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THE 



OLD BRICK CHURCHES 



(Bf JHarplauI}. 



BY 

HELEN WEST RIDGELY. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



SOPHIE DE BUTTS STEWART. 






,<<-'-■■■ 


• 





J> W^ / 



NEW YORK: 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH AND COMPANY 

(incorporated), 

182 Fifth Avenue. 
1894. 



Copyright, 189 J^, 
By Anson D. F. Randolph and Co. 

(iNCORPOKATED. ) 



2Intber3ttD iircss: 
John Wilson and Sox, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



FT? 2 



TO 

E\)Z fRtmoxv of mc (^rantifatljfr, 

JOSEPH WHITE MOULTON, 

A PIONEER HISTORIAN OK THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 









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An Old IMap of IMA):yLANU 



PEEFATORY NOTE. 



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TIEN relays of fresli inspiration are to be 
found along tiie road, writing a book 
becomes a veritable pleasure-trip. Such, 
indeed, lias this book been to nie from 

the moment when my cousin. Miss 

Stewart, suggested that we should sally forth together 
in quest of the Old Brick Churches of Maryland, 
and with brush and pen accentuate the fact of their 
existence. 

In this pleasure trip the Maryland Historical rooms 
might be called our booking-office, the Episcopal 
Library our iirst inn, and the Rev. George A. Leakin 
our genial fellow-passenger, who, with others, has indi- 
cated to us the points of interest along the way. 

I borrow my similes, perforce, from stage-coach days, 
for I cannot forget that Maryland in some sections is 
to this day a staging country. This we discovered, 
greatly to our edification, when actual travel carried 
us beyond the regions of the railroad and the tele- 
graph, — beyond the bustle of modern life, where 
Time is tyrant, to an Arcadia where shifting shadows 
gently remind one of the hour, and the kitchen clock 



X prefatory j^otf. 

is regulated by the rise or set of the sun. Indeed, even 
that homely institution is sometimes wanting, — as in 
the ease of one housewife, who boiled her eggs while 
singing the hymn "Just as I am;" a very soft-boiled 
egg recjuiring one verse only, while a hard-boiled egg 
required six ! 

Life in these solitudes flows on with the proverbial 
stillness that suggests either depth or stagnation : we 
found both. 

At tlie end of six months our churches had been 
visited, sketched, and discussed ; yet the materials thus 
gathered represented but the skeleton of a subject 
which required a judicious amount of padding to give 
it a lifelike aspect. But all the raw-cotton and saw- 
dust of facts utilized for the purpose were in vain ; 
the desired effect seemed as far off as before. At 
last a clever doctor, who may be said to have felt 
the pulse of tlie subject, exclaimed : " But wliere are 
the people who worshipped in these old churches I " 
Thanks, friend ! I have taken your hint, and sought 
for them. But, alas ! some have been dead and buried 
these two hundred years, and I fear they bear no 
greater resemblance to their former selves than mum- 
mies do to the ancient Egyptians. 

Helen West Ridgely. 

irA>rPTON-, October, 1S!)4. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 
The I. U. Church, Kent Frontispiece 

An Old ]\Iap of Maryland „ . . . . ix 

St. Paul's, Kent 7 

A Picturesque Corner, Chestertown 10 

Doorway of the New Choir, St. Thomas' . , . . . 21 

St. Luke's, Wye 25 

Somerset Parish Communion Silver 31 

Old Green Hill Church before it was restored . . 32 

Trinity Church, St. Mary's 39 

An Old Manor House 41 

An Old Parsonage 56 

St. James' Church, Herring Creek 67 

St. James', Herring Creek, Church Silver 71 

Graves of the Dick Family 82 

Marley Chapel 85 

Tombs of the Moale Family 102 

St. James', or the Manor Church 106 

St. Thomas', or Garrison Forest Church 115 

Silver belonging to St. Thomas', Garrison Forest . . 126 



€i}apttv I. 



THE CAVALIER AXD THE TURITAX. — " OLD KENT. 

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH. — YESTRYMEX OF ST. PAUL'S. 

AX OLD YESTRY-HOUSE. — REY. STEPHEX 

BORDLEY. — THE L U. CHURCH. 

EMMAXUEL CHURCH. 

CHESTERTOAYX. 



^ 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Pages 
The Cavalier axd the Plritax. — " Old Kext."— St. 
Paul's Church. —Vestkvmex of St. Paul's. —Ax Old 
Vestry - Hou.se. — The Rev. Stephex Bordlev. — The 
I. U. Church. — Emmaxuel Church, Chestertowx . 1-17 



CHAPTER 11. 

Old Chester." — St. Luke's, Wye. — The Tilghmaxs 
AXD the Lloyds. — The Rev. Thomas Bacox. — Hexry 
Calllster.— The Bexxett Buryixg-Grouxd.— St. Luke's, 
Church Hill. — St. Johx's, Tuckahoe. — Trtxity, Dor- j. 

CHESTER COUXTY. — St. AxDREW's, SOMERSET COUXTY. l! 

The Old Greex Hill Church, Wicomico County. ►-■'"" 
All Hallows', Worce.ster Couxty. — St. Mary's, Cecil 
County. —A List of the Orioixal Parishes <»f the y 
Easterx Shore of Marylaxd 19-."M 



CHAPTER IIL 

The "Ark" axd the " Dove."— " Old St. Mary's."— The 
CouRT-HousE Church.— Ax Axciext Maxor.— The Pirst 
Wedding.— Anciext Documexts.— Rev. Dr. Bray.— The 
First Printing Press. — John Coode. — Rose Croft. 
A Midnight Escapade. — An Historic Mulberry . 35-47 



k\ 



) i 



xiv Contents. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Packs 
St. Marv's, Coxtinukd. — Coxtkibutioxs towards a Clergy- 
man's Support. — St. George's, Poplar Hill. — Christ 
Church, Chaptico. — St. Andrew's. — The Rev. Moses 
Tabds' Will. — The First Church of St. Clement's 
Uav Hundred. — William Bretton, Esq. — All Faith 
Parish. — The Cool Springs. — Calvert County. — Christ 
Church. — Miduleham Chapel. — All Saints'. — St. Paul's, 
Prince George's County 49-G3 



CHAPTER V. 

Puritan Settlements. — The " Act Concerning Religion." 
The Quakers. — Ancient Parishes of Anne Arundel 
County. — St. James', Herring Creek. — The Chews 65-77 



CHAPTER VI. 

Anne Arundel, Continued. — The South River Club. 
All Hallows' Church. — The Rev. Joseph Colbatch. 
Marley Chapel. — Odd Names. — St. Anne's Parish. 
The Dorseys. — Queen Caroline Parish Church, How- 
ard County 79-92 



CHAPTER VII. 

Baltimore County. — Anecdotes. — Daniel Dulany. — Capt. 
Charles Ridgely. — The Rev. John Coleman. — Re- 
demptioners and Convicts. — Jeremiah Eaton's Bequest. 
T''he ^Ianor Church. — Weddings in "Ye Olden Time." 
Marriage Portions 93-112 



Contents. 



XV 



CHArTER VIII. 

Pages 

Baltimokk County, Coxtixukd. — Oluton's Garrison. — St. 
Thomas' or Garrison Forest Church. — The Howards, 
The Rev. Thomas Cral>ock. — Schoolmasters in " Ye 
Oldex^ Time." — A Tax on Bachelors. — The Rev. Dr. 
Coke and the Methodists. — St. Thomas' Churchyard. 
A List of the Original Parishes on the Western 
Shore of the Chesapeake 113-129 



^ 



(Bib 35rick Cljurdjes of iHarj)lanli. 




I. 

N local history, the picturesque lias gen- 
erally taken precedence of the practical, 
because it first rivets the attention as an 
object-lesson. When details are entered 
into, other parts of the drama come to 
the front to claim their just position and consideration. 
The picturesque in ]V[aryland has been represented by 
its band of Cavaliers, who, in the costume of Charles I., 
with flowing locks, pointed goatee, and erratic mustache, 
took all hearts capti^'e to their bold, reckless, merr}', 
idle life. But fashions change ; Vandyke gives place 
to Kneller, and he in his turn to Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
Can it be that Maryland has furnished no type of the 
picturesque save the Cavalier and the stately dame? 
Have there been no subjects for the brush of a Gerard 
Dow, a Jules Breton, or a L'Hermite, — no examples 
from the life of the people, breathing the poetry of 
common things! Is there no recognition for those 
wdio have borne the ])urden and heat of the day, and 
laid the foundations of a purer social life? 



The lawlessness we generally associate with the gay 
Cavalier, but which, on account of his amiable qualities 
we find it so easy to forgive, received numerous checks 
in Maryland from his natural enemy, the stern Puritan, 
who, as early as 1650, reigned supreme on the banks of 
the Severn, and supplied his quota of burgesses to the 
Assembly of Maryland, held at St. Mary's. 

The two bodies assumed a mutual hostility in 1655, 
when the men of Severn shouted their battle-cry, " In 
tlie name of God, fall on; God is our strength!" over- 
powering the " Hey for St. Mary's, and wives for us 
all ! " of their dnshing opponents. 

Another blow to the Cavalier was dealt in 1692, 
when Maryland fell under the jurisdiction of Eng- 
land's king, the sagacious William. 

St. Mary's was shorn of her glory as the capital of 
the province in 1695, when she was supplanted by her 
hated rival on the banks of the Severn. This rival, 
bearing the name "Annapolis," became henceforth the 
hub of State affairs. 

At the time of William and Mary's accession, Prot- 
estant sects formed more than three foui'ths of the 
population of Maryland, but there were few worthy 
leaders among them. An established ministry seemed 
to be the crying need of the times, and the Episcopal, 
or National Church of England, was consequently 
adopted. Parishes were laid out, and a poll tax of 
forty pounds of tobacco imposed for the support of 
the ministry. Vestrymen and church wardens were 



(©ID ^tnu 5 

appointed to attend to the secular atlairs of the church, 
and to serve as guardians of the public morals. 

The ancient manor houses, now scattered through the 
lower counties of Maryland, are so many monuments to 
the departed glory of the Cavalier, while the old brick 
churches and their offshoots, the chapels of ease, are so 
many witnesses to the vigorous growth of the people, who 
in some of the most important crises of our national life, 
have made a stand for the public good. It is to the life 
of the people centring around these old brick churches 
that w^e would now draw attention. 

The Isle of Kent, on the eastern shore of the Chesa- 
peake, is the spot where the seed of churchmanship 
was first sown. Kent was represented in the Virginia 
Assembly by Captain Nicholas Martin, before Lord Bal- 
timore's charter was granted, and before Maryland re- 
ceived her name. It became later the subject of contest 
between Lord Baltimore and Colonel William Claiborne, 
who had purchased it from native kings, and had 
formed a Protestant settlement there as early as 1630. 
Like Kent in England, which Avas the first to be con- 
quered by the Anglo-Saxon, Kent in Maryland was the 
first to fall before the power of the invader, and Clai- 
borne, with his followers, was obliged to flee. Their 
lands were confiscated, and among those wdio suffered 
exile was the Reverend Richard James, who returned 
to England, and died at the house of Sir Richard Cotton, 
in 1638. 

The traditions of Episcopacy were not destroyed, 



6 t\)( Mn i5itfk Cl)urcljr0 of spar^lauD. 

however, and as early as 1650 we find Kent Island 
in possession of a church whose successor, built of 
English brick on a granite foundation, was standing as 
late as 1880, in a grove of venerable oaks near Broad 
Creek, an inlet of the Chesapeake. Christ Church at 
Stevensville, about a mile and a half distant, is partly 
constructed from the brick of this ruin, and rears its 
head in proud consciousness of lineal descent from the 
first authenticated church edifice in the province. 

This seems a strange statement to make in the face 
of prevailing Roman Catholic traditions, but it is true. 
The Catholic Lord Proprietary, although he liad the 
power to license the erection of churches, was obliged, 
by the terms of the charter, to see that " the same 
should be dedicated and consecrated according to the 
ecclesiastical laws of England;" and as the laws of 
Eng-land were at tliat time antaoT)nistic to the Roman 
Catholic Churcli, the Jesuits contented themselves with 
building chapels. 

The Isle of Kent has ever been noted for the beauty 
of its scenery and the wealth of its waters, and it is 
thought to be the only place of settlement of the col- 
onists on the Eastern Sliore before the year 1652. At 
this time we find Colonel Richard Bennett and Edward 
Lloyd making a treaty of peace with the Susquehanna 
Indians, by which tlie latter gave up "all land lying 
from the Patuxent to Palmer's Island," — now Watson's, 
— " on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay, and from 
the Choptank River to the northeast branch which lies 




St. Paul's, Kent. 



^t. Paul's; €\)\m\), 7 

to the north of the FAk River on the eastern side of 
the bay." 

The name of Edward Lloyd and liis estate of Wye 
point to a Welsh origin. 

Kent County was organized in 1G50, and nt that time 
embraced most of the territory on the Eastern Shore. 
The Cliester River enters into Chesapeake Bay between 
the Isle of Kent and Eastern Neck Island. Eastern 
Neck, north of the island, is intersected by Church 
Creek, so named because upon its banks was built the 
first church of the main land. 

James Ring-gold, of Huntingfield, lord of the manor 
on Eastern Neck, was doubtless one of the builders of 
this church, and one of the fouiulers of the town of New 
Yarmouth, on Gray's Inn Creek, a few miles distant. 
This town was prominent as a port of entry in 1684, 
and was the county town for a period of twenty years ; 
but its site is now only a matter of conjecture. It is 
said that the foundation stones of a church may be seen 
at very low tide, and that on the land have been dis- 
covered tombstones and brick arches of graves. In 
1706, Chestertown, twelve miles further up on the 
Chester River, became the county town, and has re- 
tained the position to the present day. By drawing a 
line from Chestertown to Gray's Imi Creek in a south- 
west direction, we have the hypothenuse of a right- 
angled triangle, at Avhose aj)ex is to be found the oldest 
church remaining in Kent County. This is the parish 
church of St. Paul's Around this venerable structure 



8 t\)t Mn llBiick Cljurcl)f0 of iiparvlanD, 

are stationed primeval oaks, spreacling" their patriarchal 
l)i-aiiches over the trees of a younger generation, and 
over the graves of nearly two centuries. The quaintest 
of gravestones bears the following inscription: — 

HERE LYES THE BODY OF 

DAVID COLEY. HE DEPARTED 

THIS LIFE OCTOBER Y"- 20 17J9. 

CUT BY JOHN GODFREY. 

On the foot-stone is carved the following epitaph : — 

IJeliokl and see now where I lye, 
As you are now soe once ^vas I, 
As I am now soe must 3^011 be, 
Therefore prepare to follow me. 

The first page of the Parish Records begins with the 
following entry : — 

Pursuant to an act of Assembly P'ntituled an Act for the 
Establishment of the i)rotestant Religion in tliis Province, 
Avherein it is ordered that the Counties within the Province 
of Maryland shall be Divided into Parislies, and likewise by 
the same Law it is ordered that the Justices of the County 
with the freeholdei's shall chuse six Vestrymen for Each re- 
spective Parish, which According was done and performed the 

24th. Day of Janry — Anno qui Domini 1(593. Avhose 

names are her(!under inserted, 

viz* : f Mr. Thos. Smitu. Mr. Ciias. Tildrn. 

-j Mr. Wm. Fimsby. Mr, Mich. Miller. 

(Mr. Hans. ?Ianson.^ Mr. Simon Wilmer. 
Janry — 30tli. 1(;:»3. 

Acquaintance with these vestrymen may be formed 
from the well-})reserved records of Kent County and 
from the traditions of a proud posterity. 



iBcgtivmrn of ^t. paiil's* 9 

Thomas Sinitli iippears on the rcicords as Colonel 
Thomas Smythe. He was tlie n-randson of Sir Thomas 
Sniytlie, Treasnrer of the Viro-iiiia CJ()ini)any, between 
160(j and 1018. He was also one of tlie signers of the 
petition to William and Mary in 1G8D for the establisli- 
ment of the Protestant religion in Maryland. In 1694 
he was chosen, with AVilliam Frisb}', Hans Hanson, 
and John Hynson, to serve as bnrgesses, and in IGDT 
these names appear in a public document from which 
the following extract may prove interesting : — 

" WilHam tlic Third, by tlio grace of God, King, Defender of 
the Faith, Ac. . . . We have also constituted and appointed 
von and everv four or more of you of which you the said 
William Frisby, John Hynson, Hans Hanson and Thomas 
Smvth or one of you are alhvays to be one of the Commis- 
sioners to Enquire of the Oaths of good and Lawful! men of 
your county aforesaid, of all manner of Felonies, Witchcrafts, 
Inchautments, Sorceries, Magick arts. Trespasses, Forestallings, 
Ingrossings and Extortions whatsoever ct of all and singular 
other misdeeds S: offences whatsoever of which Justices of the 
Peace in England may or ought Lawfully to En(iuire." 

Of witclicrafts, etc., there were but few cases in Mary- 
land, one woman only having lost her life on suspicion 
of being a witch, when she was thrown overboard by 
frightened sailors during a storm. 

Thomas Smythe presented to the church of St. Paul's 
in 1G99 a connnunion service, consisting of one chalice 
of silver and one plate of silver, which are still in use, 
and bear this inscription : " The gift of "$" to the Parish 
of St. Paul's on the north side of Chester." The vestry 



10 



^l)c Mn )5ncU Cljurcljcs of ^aiv'lauD. 



books also record the gift of a pulpit cloth and cushion 
from his wife, " Elliner Smythe." Tliis has undoubtedly 
been long- since appropriated l)y the historic moth. 
Thomas Smythe's estate of Trumpington adjoined tluit 
of James Ringgold, whose name is also prominent in 




A riCTTRESQUE CoRNEK, CilESTEUTOWN. 

the hfstor}- of Kent. In the generations of Smythe 
that follow, are to be found an Honorable and a Major, 
and a house in Chestertown, dating from colonial times, 
still attests to the standing of the Ringgold fannly. 



^fstiTmm of fe>t. Paul's; 11 

Southeast of St. I'tiiil's was the lioiiie of tlie Frisbys, 
one of whom married the gTanddaugliter of Simon Wil- 
mer, a patriarch wliose descendants are found like twigs 
upon the geneah^gical trees of other families. The name 
of Wilmer, moreover, has to this day been distinguished 
in the Church and in the Law. 

The Tildens were men of standing in England, and 
their coat of arms is as follows : — 

Anns. Azure, a saltier, ermine, between foiu' pheons. Or, 
Crest. A battle-axe erect, entwined with a snake, proper. 
Motto. Truth and Liberty. 

Michael Miller, on whose land the cluirch was built, 
" repaid again as a gift to the church " the two thousand 
pounds of tobacco which he had received for the land. 
This gentleman was chosen burgess in 1685, and church- 
warden in 1709; but that did not exempt him from 
his duties as vestryman, for it is recorded that on 
July 20tli, 1695, he was lined one hundred pounds of 
tobacco for being absent twice from the meetings of the 
vestry. 

Hans Hanson was the only vestryman whose ances- 
tors were not all English. His grandfather, Avhose 
mother was a Swede, served with honor in the army 
of Gustavus Adolphus, and lost his life at the battle 
of Llitzen, while defending his king. The parents of 
Hans were Andrew Anderson Hanson and his wife 
Annika, who in 1642 emigrated with the Swedish set- 
tlers under Lieutenant John Printz to New Sweden 
on the Delaware. Hans was born on Tinicum Island in 



12 t[)c o^ltJ y&tU]Si Cl)urcl)r0 of bPar^'lanD. 

1646, but came to Maryland in 1653, when his parents 
were driven from Delaware by the Dutch. In the 
County Records we find the name of Colonel Hans 
Hanson associated with positions of honor and trust, 
and his blood has flowed in the veins of most of the 
prominent Kent Islanders from that time. After his 
marriage, in 1679, he purchased from Charles Vaughan 
the estate of Kimbolton, lying on the north side of 
Chester River and on the west side of Langford's Bay, 
near the mouth of Broad Neck Branch. He lived there 
till he died in 1703. The Hanson coat of arms, handed 
down from Colonel Hanson of the Swedish army, was 
as follows : — 

Arms. Azure, a cross betonnee, cantoned by four fleui-s-de-lis, 
argent. 

Crest. A niartlctt, j^roper. 

Motto. Sola virtus invicta. 

It differs from thnt of the English branch, but the 
motto is the same. The grandson of Colonel Hanson 
was Gustavus Hanson, Avho served with our revolution- 
ary patriots, severing all connection with his English 
relations, though his bride, Catherine Tilden, had re- 
ceived from his family in England a " magnificent silk 
dress inwrought with bullion tliread," a portion of which 
is still preserved by a descendant. 

In the history of those times, we find tliat the Privy 
Councillors, County Court Judges, High Sherifts, and 
Burgesses were all planters, and the large plantations, 
with tlieir group of storehouses and cabins, assumed the 



0n <©ID Wt&tv^tQow&t, 13 

cliaracter of towns, and the state of society was fendal. 
Among customs repugnant to modern ideas was tliat 
which sanctioned the corporal punishment of servants. 
A case is on record where the jury found tliat the pun- 
ishment of a maid-servant, although not tlie cause of 
lier death, was " unreasonable, considering her weak 
estate of body," and the court imposed a fine of three 
hundred pounds of tobacco for the '^ unchristianlike 
punishment." The rod used on the occasion was from 
a peach-tree, which shows that Kent was then, as it is 
now, a fruit-growing country. With William the Third 
the cane came into vogue, and we may picture to our- 
selves irascible gentlemen of the old school shaking 
their canes at refractory subjects. 

A few yards from St. Paul's Church stands the vestry- 
house bearing the date 1766 in brick mosaic on its south 
side. Here the vestry held their courts, and an indica- 
tion of the nature of some cases coming under their 
jurisdiction is found in an extract from the Parish 
Records, dated Feb. 10, 1695 : " Likewise ordered by 
this vestry that the churchwardens admonish Edward 
Plesto and Elizabeth North to live separately." When 
admonitions failed, the parties were summoned to ap- 
pear before the vestry, and if they still persisted in their 
way, they were finally handed over to the civil authori- 
ties to be punished according to law. The vestry-room 
was a place of social as well as business meeting for 
those who perhaps never met their neighbors excepting 
on Sunday. Here the men may have negotiated the 



14 t\)t 0Ui 3Biick Cljurcljcs of SBarv'lauD. 

sale of their crops, and joined the women at a frugal 
repast, indulging" in a bit of gossip around the blazing 
logs. The colonial church was never heated. 

Before the vestry-house was built, vestry meetings 
took place at private houses or at the court-house, which 
stood first at New Yarmouth and afterwards at Chester- 
town. Every court-house had its " ordinary," a place 
licensed to sell licpiors, for which the rates were fixed by 
the court. 

In 1686 on the court-house wall of New Yarmouth 
was posted the following Hst of drinks : — 

Lbs. of Tobacco. 

Brandy per gall 100. 

Rum per gall 080. 

Brandy Burnt per gall , 100. 

Cider per gall 020. 

Quince drink & Perry per gall. , 025. 

Sherry wines per gall. . 120. 

Port wines per gall 060. 

Claret & white wine per gall. . 060. 

Canary per gall 150. 

A Bowl of Punch with one quart of Bum & Ingre- 
dients per gall 040. 

Ditto Brandy per gall 060. 

Madeira per gall . 076. 

Molasses beer per gall 012. 

Mault beer — strong — per gall 020. 

The first rector of St. Paul's was the Rev. Mr. Vander- 
bush, who was chosen b}- two members of the vestry 
commissioned to engage him for a year for the sum of 
eight thousand pounds of tobacco. He died in 1696, 
when Governor Nicholson sent to succeod him the Rev. 



t\)t Hrt). ^trpljcn 115oi'Dlfv\ 15 

Stephen Bordley, with the following form of installation, 
which was at that time used in Maryland : — 

The Bearer hereof is Mr. Stephen IJordley, who is sent by 

the Right Iloii'ble and Right Rev'd Father in God, Henry Lord 

Bisliop of London, in order to officiate as a clergyman of the 

Church of England in this his Majestie's Province of JNIaryhuid ; 

I do therefore, in his Majestie's name appoint the same Mr. 

Stephen Bordley to officiate as a clergyman of the Church 

of England in the Parish of St. Paul's in Kent county. Given 

under my hand and Seal at the Port of Annapolis, the 23d 

day of June, in the 9tli year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord 

William the third, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, 

France and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, &c., Anno 

Domini, 1G97. 

Francis Nicholson 

(Seal) 

To the Vestrymen of St. Paul's Parish, Kent Co. — These. 

The Rev. Stephen Bordley died in 1709. His influ- 
ence, like that of other good pastors, seems to have 
infused into the church a store of vitality which enabled 
it to survive periods of religious famine and moral 
depression. 

Other entries on the church records show that the 
collections taken up at Christmas, Easter, and Whit- 
sunday went to defray the cost of wine used at the Holy 
Communion. We here learn also that after 1715, when 
the Hanoverian succession Avas threatened by the Pre- 
tender, vestrymen took an oath of '' Allegiance and 
Abhorrency," and continued to take the ^'Test Oath," 
which excluded Catholics from office. The oath of 
Allegiance and Abhorrency is as follows : — 



16 t\)t 0\n 115ricfe €\)ntc\)cs of ^ariHauD. 

I, A. B, do swear that I do from my heart abhor detest & 
abjure as imjjious & heretical that damnable doctrine <fc position 
that princes excommunicated or deposed by the pope or any au- 
thority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murdered by their 
subjects or any other whatsoever & I do declare that no foreign 
prince or prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any 
jurisdiction, power, superiority or authority ecclesiastical or 
spiritual within tlie Kingdom of G' Britain or any of the domin- 
ions thereto belonging, so help me God. 

St. Paul's Church was rebuilt in 1713, and ayg have 
reason to believe tluit the same walls are now standing, 
as their dimensions and structure conform to a descrip- 
tion recorded at that time. By it, we learn that the 
church was forty feet long- by thirty feet wide and six- 
teen feet high. The walls were two and a half bricks 
thick, and there was " a circle at the east end." The 
first Chapel of Ease of St. Paul's Parish, now known 
as the I. U. Church, originally bore the name of Saint 
Peter ; but it seems that the saint was less honored than 
one John Usidon, a considerable landowner, whose 
initials decorated a sign-post at the cross-roads where 
the chapel stood. Of the church built in 1768 no 
trace is left ; the present one represents the parish 
of I. U., created about the year 1862, but now only 
interesting, as are some individuals, on account of 
ancestry. A large 1. U., in a different colored brick on 
the chancel end, is the badge entitling it to consider- 
ation, while the fine old pines clustered around it are 
like faithful retainers, striving to conceal the defects 
of an unworthy offspring. 



CBmmanucl Cljurcl), 17 

At Chestertowii is a clmrcli, finished in 1770, as a 
Chapel of Ease to the I. U. Church. It was remodelled 
some years ago, is now the ])arish church, and is known 
as Emmanuel. 

Before closing- this chapter, it may be well to explain 
Avliat is meant by a " Cha})el of Ease." At the time of 
the Establishment, there were ten counties in Maryland. 
These were laid out into thirty-one parishes, covering 
such large tracts that many families, in order to reach 
the parish church, which by law they were forced to 
attend, had to drive to the spot on Saturday, that they 
might be in time for service on Sunday, — a " Sabbath 
day's journey " being ahead of them before they could 
reach home again. To rectify this. Chapels of Ease 
were built in the outlying districts of large parishes ; 
but where two or more churches already stood in the 
same area, one of them invariably became the parisli 
church, and the others the Chapels of Ease, and the rec- 
tor was obliged to minister in turn to each. Whenever 
a supplementary church was needed, it was ordered by 
Act of Assembly that a Chapel of Ease should be built 
" for the furtherance of God's religion." 



Ci^apter ii. 



"OLD CHESTER." — ST. LUKE'S, WYE. — THE TILGHMANS 
AND THE LLOYDS. — THE REV. THOMAS BACON. — HENRY 
CALLISTER - THE BENNETT BURYING -GROUND. — ST. 
LUKE'S, CHURCH HILL. — ST. JOHN'S, TUCK AHOE. — TRIN- 
ITY, DORCHESTER COUNTY. — ST. ANDREW'S, SOMERSET 
COUNTY. — THE OLD GREEN HILL CHURCH, WICOxMICO 
COUNTY. — ALL HALLOWS', WORCESTER COUNTY. — ST. 
MARY'S, CECIL COUNTY. — A LIST OF THE ORIGINAL 
PARISHES OF THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND. 



$ 



II. 




East of the Island 
of Kent a ii d 
south of the 
Chester 11 i v e r, 
lies a large area 
of fertile coun- 
try, knoAvn at the 
time of the Estab- 
lishment as Tal- 
bot, but later on 
as Talbot and 
Queen Anne. 
The three flour- 
ishing- parishes 
of St. Paul's, St. Michael's, and St. Peter's lay here. 
The oldest church buildings, now standing, are two 
Chapels of Ease of St. Paul's, — St. Luke's, Wye, and 
St. Luke's, Church Plill. St. Paul's Parish has an inter- 
esting record, extending back to 1694, and the names 
of its rectors represent an unbroken chain of worthies, 
from the Rev. John Lillingston, in 1694, to the Rev. 
Huo'h Neill, in 1775. It is a remarkable fact that these 



99 



t{)t <0lD llBricfe Cljurfl)f0 of a5ai\?lauD. 



colonial rectors retained the same charge up to the time 
of their death, and with one exception lie beneath the 
ruins of ancient St. Paul's, better known as " Old Ches- 
ter," which stood about a mile from the town of Centre- 
ville, where the present St Paul's was erected in 1855. 
Two royal oaks mark the site of the original building, a 
wooden structure standing in 1655, and of its successor, 
which Avas so old as to need repaii's at the time of the 
Establishment. A })rominent vestryman of St. Paul's was 
Colonel Richard Tilghman of the Hermitage, wlio ad- 
vanced the sum necessary for the rebuilding in 1697, the 
vestry engaging to reimburse him ; he also contributed 
liberally to the building of the Chapel of Ease at Wye, in 
which a large square pew near the chancel was re- 
served, by order of the vestry, for the use of his family. 
St. Luke's, Wye, is one of the quaintest of Eastern Shore 
churches. Seen in the slanting rays of the evening sun, 
through a frame-work of branching oaks, its weather- 
beaten brick and shining ivy present a prettier picture 
than an engraving can reproduce. Changes have been 
made in the interior to meet the requirements of modern 
times. Beneath the altar lie the remains of one of the 
colonial rectors, whose name has been lost. A stone, 
bearing the following inscription, stands within the chan- 
cel-rail, awaiting removal to the spot it is destined to 
cover : — 



^t, iliiUc's;, M^c. 23 



BENEATH THIS STONE LIE 
THE REMAINS OK THAT 
EMINENT AND FAITHFUL 
SERVANT OF GOD 

THE 
REV. ELISHA RIGGS 
RECTOR OF THIS PARISH 
FROM A. D. 1797 
UNTIL HIS DEATH 

FEB Gth 1804. 
THE MEMORY OF THE 
JUST IS BLESSED. 



Tlie church, at one time, fell into disuse on account 
of its dilapidated condition, and a new St. Luke's was 
built at Queenstown, a few miles distant. Bishop Wliit- 
tingham, however, finding the venerable structure given 
up to the beasts of the field, literally drove these living 
proofs of the '' abomination of desolation " from the 
spot, and afterwards used his influence to have it re- 
stored to its proper uses. In 1854 the whole building, 
''fitly framed, compacted, and beautified," being then 
as strono- as in the days of old, was reconsecrated by 
the same bishop. Wye became a separate parish in 
1859. 

Colonel Tilghman married Anna Maria Lloyd, grand- 
daughter of the Commissioner of 1652. She was named 
for her grandmother, Anna Neale, who had been lady- 
in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria, and had received 
from her the gift of a ring, which is still in the posses- 
sion of a lineal ■ descendant. This ring opens with a 
spring, and reveals a miniature portrait of Charles L 



24 t\)t <i^lD llBrifh Cljurcljrs of spaiiHauD. 

painted on copper. Anna Neale's oldest daughter, 
Henrietta Maria, though a Papist, married Richard Ben- 
nett, son of tlie Puritan Commissioner, and after his 
death, Pliilemon Lloyd, a Quaker, son of P^dward Lloyd, 
tlie other Puritan Commissioner. Philemon settled at 
Wye, and Wye House has ever since been the home 
of the Lloyds. The oldest son of the family for eight 
generations has been called Edward, and there are three 
generations of that name now living. 

The records of Shrewsbury, a parish two hundred 
years old, but with no ancient church, contain a letter 
written in 1721 by the Commissary of the Eastern Shore, 
the Rev. Christopher Wilkinson, inviting the rector, 
Rev. James Williamson, to assist at tlie consecration of 
Wye Chapel on St. Luke's Day, October 18th, and to 
lodge at his house " ye night before." 

Talbot and Queen Anne have ever been pre-eminent 
for their liospitality, and as there had been a wedding 
in the Tilglmian family tlie preceding week, we can 
imagine that the consecration of Wye Chapel was an 
excuse for prolonging the festivities. There is a say- 
ing in Maiyland, "Ride a mile and stay a week," — 
a saying which may well have originated where the 
Lloyds, the Tilghmans, the De Courceys and others 
kept open house. 

Among some interesting letters written by the Rev. 
Thomas Bacon, rector of St. Peter's Parish, to " Henry 
Callister, merchant," is the following, dated Dover, Oct. 
26th, 1756 : " We had on Saturday Inst at Col. Lloyds the 



2, Concert at Colonel illo\iDs. 25 

most delightful concert Auiericji can allord, my honor 
the first fiddle being accompanied on the harpsichord 
by the famous Palmer, wlio is the best natured man of a 
Top hand, I ever met with." There were neither theatres 
nor concert-halls in Maryland at that time, Ijut wealthy 
planters entertained actors and musicians, who came to 
them with letters of introduction, and an impromptu 
play or concert was often made practicable by the 
concurrence of the many guests possessing talent nnd 
toilet for the occasion. 

Many of these old families still preserve gowns of 
brocade and other rich material, antique jewellery, and 
old portraits, which attest the truth of William Eddis' 
statement, made shortly before the Revolntion, tluit 
" the quick importation of fashions from the mother 
country is really astonishing, nor are opportunities 
wanting to display superior elegance." He also alludes 
to the varied amusements and numerous parties of 
the time. 

Queen Anne and Talbot on the Eastern Shore, and 
Prince George's and Anne Arundel on the Western, 
were, until the Revolution, the centres of refinement 
and festivity. The rural amusements then in vogue 
were of the same character as now prevail at fashion- 
able country clubs. The character of importations at 
that time may be seen in an invoice made by Henry 
Callister, merchant of Wye, in 1751, which reads as 
follows : — 



26 t\)C O^lD IBiicb CljuiclKS of yTaarvUauD. 

Colored ginghams 
Bibles & Common Prayers 
Irish stuffs &c 
Gauze handkerchiefs 
Candlesticks & snuffers 
Spice mortars 
Black jacks 
Snuff' boxes 
Chafing dishes 
All the green teas 
All sorts of Crockery 
&c <fcc. 

There is on record also an inventory of books owned 
by H. Callister, as follows : — 

A Latin & English Dictionary 

Statutes of Gt. Britain & Ireland 

Hudibras 

Craddock's version of the Psalms 

Swift, Goldsmith, Pope, Moliere, Tom Jones 

History of China 

Observations on Herculaneum. 

Henry Callister seems to have been a " character." 
In his letter-book is preserved a notice to a storekeeper 
to sell " no rum to James Hoxley and Sophia his wife, 
as they were rendered sick, saucy, and drunk, by which 
I suffered in my crops and in the peace of my family." 
A letter addressed to the delinquents follows. 



l^nuv Callistcr aiiD tl)r Uct). ^Ijonias Bacon. 



'^i 



Jamks lIoxi.KY and Madam Sophia, 

I have no power to bear your ill usage longer. Come settle 
with me and leave my plantation to Providence. 

II. Callistkr. 
Give an account of everything, at your peril. 

11. C A LUSTER. 

Give an account of the provisions you have over. 

H. Callister. 
Turn off the Plantation everything that belongs to you. 

H. Callister. 

Though a terror to the transgressor, H. Callister was 
a warm friend to the deserving, among whom were 
many Acadian refugees, who settled on the Eastern 
Shore about this time. In fact, it is said that he 
wrecked his fortunes in rendering them assistance. In 
one of his letters he speaks of going to read Plato to 
a dying friend, and his kindly nature is often manifested 
in his correspondence with the Rev. Thomas Bacon, 
whose account of a concert at Edward Lloyd's we 
have "•iven. 

o 

Thomas Bacon, though a good musician, is better 
known in Maryland history as a compiler of Lrvs. 
In 1757 he beiran to collect in book form the enact- 
ments of every General Assembly of Maryland, retain- 
ing the titles only of those that had been repealed. 
Thus the church, as well as the civil comnumity, had 
the whole history of legislation in the Province. 

In one of Thomas Bacon's letters he says, " Musick 
is departed from me, and the ' Laws ' my ordy employ- 
ment, are dry stuff which stick in my throat." Accord- 



28 ti)t 0\li Brick Cljuifljfs of tiaaiiHnnO. 

iiig to the Rev. Ethan Allen, this unpalatable task 
hastened his cleatli, which occurred in 1758. St. Peter's 
Church, near Oxford, where he officiated, is now a ruin. 
The graveyard at Wye contains very old graves, but 
the most interesting gravestones are to be found in pri- 
vate grounds. In tlie Bennett burying-ground on Ben- 
nett's Point, between Wye River and Eastern Bay, is an 
old stone with tlie following inscription : — 

Here lyeth ixtekh'd the Remains uf Dukotiiy Carroll 

DAUciiiTER OF Henry Blake of 

Wye River IiN the Province of 

Maryland ^ wife of Charles Carroll Esqr of 

Clountish in the King's County and 

KiNCJDOM of Ireland 

She was Meek Prudent & Virtuous 

Wanted no good quality that 

Composed a good Christian and 

tender & loving Mother & Friend 

THO' YOUNG in YEARS A INIATRON 

IN Behavior and Conduct 

She left issue two sons and 

ONE Daughter who inherits 

her Beauty & to he hoped 

they will her Virtue 

She departed this life the 

8 day of July anno Domini 1734 

aged thirty one years seven months and twelve days. 

Dorothy's son, Charles Carroll, " Barrister," figures 
conspicuously at the time of the Revolution, as does also 
liis cousin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. His beauti- 



fe»t. iLufec'0, Cl^urct) SnlU ^t, 31ol)n'0, ^ucfealjoc. 29 

fill sister, Mary Clare, married Nicholas Macciibbiii, of 
Annapolis, and was the ancestress of the Protestant 
CarroUs of Baltimore, — two of her sons having assumed 
the name in accordance with their uncle, the barrister's 
will, by which they became his heirs. 

St. Luke's, at Church Hill, was at one time a Chapel 
of Ease to St. Paul's, and its services were conducted by 
the rectors of Old Chester and Old Wye. It became a 
separate parish in 1728. The present church was built 
in 1730, and now stands in the midst of old graves, 
shadowed by primeval oaks. The Right Rev. Thomas 
J. Claggett, the first bisho}) consecrated in America, and 
the first of the church in Maryland, confirmed a class of 
thirty there in 179o. Being out of repair and unfit for 
worship, St. Luke's was soon abandoned; but in 1S42 it 
was partially restored, and opened for service. Li 18X1 
it was completely restored by the late George Hawkins 
Williams, of Baltimore, whose ancestors were prominent 
church members Tlie records of St. Paul's l^irish, 
under date of Jan. SOtli, 1721, mention the gift of a solid 
silver chalice and flagon from ]\Iajor John Hawkins, 
high sherifi^ in 1703. Mr. G. II. Williams also pre- 
sented to St. Luke's a massive silver communion ser- 
vice, brought from England shortly before his death. 

A third Chapel of Ease belonging to St. Paul's was 
called St. John's, but it has ceased to be. Tt was situ- 
ated at Tuckahoe, and gave its name to the parish in 
Caroline County, where now stand St. Paul's and Holy 
Trinitv. 



In 1692, when the order was given for the laying out 
of parishes, all that part of the Eastern Shore lying 
south of the Choptank River was divided into Dor- 
chester and Somerset, which were afterwards subdivided 
into Worcester and Wicomico Counties. In each of 
these four counties is an old brick churcli, and in 
Wicomico there are two. Trinity Church, in Dorches- 
ter County, has pretensions to great antiquity, and the 
venerable pile, built of brick brought from England, is 
indeed a striking memorial of the past. Queen Anne 
was very kind to this church. A Bible and other books 
of public worship given by her, are still preserved, and 
a cushion, said to have been used at her coronation and 
})resented by Bishop Spratt, is one of the relics brought 
out on grand occasions, such as the consecration of the 
cburch, in 1853, when Bishop Whitehouse officiated. A 
connnunion service, also presented by Queen Anne, has 
disappeared, with the exception of one piece. Not- 
withstanding tliis royal favor, the parish was a poor 
living for the rector sent over by the Bishop of Lon- 
don. The " Taxables "in 1718 were only four hundred 
persons, and the salary was only equal to about thirty- 
five pounds a year. The parish was fifty miles long, 
and its rector, the Rev. Thomas Thompson, petitioned 
the Lord Bishop of London to relieve him of such 
" arduous duties and smnll pay." 

St. Andrew's Church, the oldest now standing- in 
Somerset Coi^nty, — for the parish church was de- 
stroyed by fire, — is to be found in Princess Anne, 



^t. 0nDrfUj'6 auD tljc ^rrcn C)tll Cl)urcl). 



31 



tlie county town. It was built in 1771 as a Chapel 
of Ease, and its antique connnunion silver is the onl}- 
relic of one of the most pros})erous parishes oi" the 
Province. 

]3eautifully situated on the north l)ank of the Wico- 
mico River is St. IUrtholomew'h, better known as 
the Green Hill Church. It belongs to Stepney Parish, 
and, as shown by the glazed figures on its east end, was 





Somerset Parish Communion Silvei;. 

built in 1733, after a style of architecture we may call 
barn-like. It stands near the site of the original wooden 
building, as proven 1)}^ a draught of " Green Hill Towne 
& Pourt," made by the county surve}'or in 1707. 

Probably one of the most remarkable rectorships ever 
known in tliis country was that of the Rev. Alexander 
Adams, who came from England as a missionary to 
Stepney in 1704. He remained in charge of the parish 



32 



t\)t (©liJ Bricfe Cl)uifl)fsf of a9arvnanD. 



till 1769, when he died at the age of ninety years. He 
had to contend with poverty and many other trials, l)ut 
in 1752 he presented to the clmrch a massive silver ser- 
vice, consisting- of a liagon twenty inches high and ten 



/ 



<•.- 





Old Green Hill Church before it was restored. 

inches in diameter, two chalices and two ])ntens, which 
;ire still in use. The old register,^ dated 17o2, is also 
preserved. 



ail ll;alloUJ6% fe>nolu C;ill, anD Jiiojctlj ClU paiisl)* 33 

About eiglit miles from Salisbury stands the Spnn<r 
Hill (Jhureli, built in 17()1 as a Chapel of Kase to Step- 
ney Tarish. It beeame a parish church in 1827. 

A more flourishing- parish is that of All Hallows', 
Snow Hill, though it began its existence as a loo- 
house of worship. The present All Hallows', com- 
pleted in 175(), was built of materials brought from 
England, and paid for with tobacco, a levy being- made 
for the purpose. It is in an excellent state of preser- 
vation, and the chancel, with handsome woodw^ork 
and memorials in marble and brass, presents an at- 
tractive appearance. An artistic stained-glass window^, 
painted by Georlinger, of 'New York, has recently been 
fitted into the semi-circular chancel as a memorial to 
the Right Rev. H. C. Lay, late Bishop of the Diocese of 
Easton. 

Another old church, wHirthy of mention, is St. Mar^''s 
North Elk Parish, Cecil County. This })arish was 
laid off in 1700, and the church was built in 1743, 
and consecrated one hundred and one years later by 
Bishop Whittingham. Cecil County was laid off in 1G74, 
for Augustine Herrman, of Bohemia Manor, a very re- 
markable man, who figured first in the history of New 
Amsterdam, and afterwards in that of Maryland. A 
copy of a map, drawai by him for the Lord Proprietary, 
is to be seen at the rooms of the l^Faryland Historical 
Society. It bears in one corner the following quaint 
inscription : — 



34 t\)c O^lD l^rich Cljurcl)C0 of sparvlanD. 

Virginia & Maryland, as it is Planted & Inhabited this pres- 
ent year 1G70. Surveyed & Exactly Drawne by the only Labour 

& Endeavor of 

AuGUSTiN IIerrman, 

Bohemiensis. 

As far as can be ascertained, St. Mary's North Elk 
Parish completes the list of old brick churches on 
the Eastern Shore, built in colonial days. The original 
parishes are as follows : — 



St. Paul's } Great Choptank, ) Dorchester 

-, f Kent Couuty. -r. i i_ ( r^ i. 

Kent Island, > Dorchester, > County. 

N. Sassafras, \ Somerset, 



r Kent Couuty. 

IN. kSassairas, \ ooiuerseL, i 

S. Sassafras, or y Cecil County. .Coventry, I j_ /-, j. 

'I r. ^. Somerset County. 

Shrewsbury, ) . Stepney, 

St. Peter's, ) 



St. Paul's, \ Snow Hill, J 

St. Michael's, \ Talbot County 



dDil^aptcr TIT. 



THE "ARK" AND THE " DOVE.' — " OLD ST. MARY'S."— THE 

COURT-HOUSE CHURCH. — AX ANCIENT MANOR. — THE 

FIRST WEDDING. — ANCIENT DOCUMENTS. — REV. 

DR. BRAY. — THE FIRST PRINTING PRESS. 

JOHN COODE. — ROSE CROFT. — A 

MIDNIGHT ESCAPADE. — AN 

HISTORIC MULBERRY^ 



$ 



III. 




TIE '' Mayflower " brought to the barren 
shores of New EiigUuid an oppressed and 
exiled people, whose struggle for life and 
liberty is to us a matter of national pride ; 
the "Ark" and the "Dove" bore to the 
fertile soil of Maryland a people for whom legislative 
freedom and religious liberty had been already secured, 
— a people whose first dealings with the natives insured 
their homes against the depredations so often committed 
in other colonies, and thus left undisturbed the founda- 
tions of that home life and that spirit of conservatism 
Avhicli characterize the Marylander to this day. 

It is not to be supposed that Plymouth Rock, which 
has attained such gigantic proportions through the re- 
fracting medium of a people's enthusiasm, is the only 
stone in the building of this great nation, or the only 
moiuuuent to its founders. 

History tells how the Maryland Pilgrims, under the 
leadership of Leonard Calvert, the Lord Proprietary's 
brother, landed March 25th, 1634, at the island of 
St. Clement's in the Potomac, and took possession of 
the country " in the name of the Saviour and our Lord 
the King." 



38 t\)c 0[ti Brich Cljuicljcs of sparvHauD. 

Around a rude cross of wood, knelt Roman and 
" Protestant " Catholic, in recognition of equal civil and 
religious liberty. 

Two days later Leonard Calvert concluded liis treaty 
with the Piscataway Indians, purcliasing- from tliem 
tliirty miles of territory on the mainland, including 
tlie villaii'e of Yaocomico, which was henceforth called 
St. Mary's. 

This historic "-round lies on the western shore of the 
Chesapeake Bay, between the Potomac and Patuxent 
Rivers, but tlie ancient town of St. Mary's is no more. 
The bluff overlooking St. Mary's River, where the court- 
liouse formerly stood, is now crowned by a thicket, 
above whicli rises the spire of Trinity Protestant 
Episcopal Church, while the Leonard Calvert monu- 
ment, a granite obelisk erected in 1891, stands like a 
lonely sentinel keeping guard over the memories of the 
past. About a stone's throw from the church is a female 
seminary, whose inmates, with those of a private house 
on another blufiP, represent the population of this defunct 
town. 

A drive of about seven miles in a southeasterly direc- 
tion, over a rolling country, which in summer is a 
wilderness of bloom, brings us to St. Inigoes Manor. 
This is part of a tract taken up by Thomas Copley, 
known also as Father Copley, in accordance with the 
" Conditions of Plantation " — he having transported 
fifty-two emigrants from across the water. The name 
St. Inigo is evidently a perversion of St. Ignatius, 



t\)t CourtHpousc CljurrI). 



39 



and this manor was at one time tlie strong-liokl of the 
Jesuits. The JViest's House, at Priest's Point, on St. 
Tnin-oes (^reek, is still in jiossession of the Ponian 
(/ntholics. 

As early ;is KJo-S the l*rotestant ( ^atholies worshipix'd 
in a log hut at St. Mary's, and in 1()94, after Maryland 
had become a Royal r, IVovince, and the seat 



of government had been 
tlie unused court-house, 
building in the form of 
a short-armed cross, was 
o-iven to the English 



removed to Annajxdis, 
a substantial l)rick 




Trinity Church, St. Mary's. 



40 ti)t O^lD 115riffe Cljmdjfs of a>irvlanti. 

Clmrcb. In 1720 the gift was confirmed by the Legisla- 
ture to the vestrymen of WilUam and Mary Parish. All 
partitions were removed from the original structure, and 
a railing was placed across the east transept to form the 
chancel. The altar was of heavy carved oak, and above 
it was a fresco representing the " Flight into Egypt." 
The pulpit stood at the intersection of the cross, half- 
way down the church. In the north and soutli tran- 
septs were galleries for the negroes, reached b}' outside 
ladders. 

Unfortunately for the antiquary, this church was torn 
down in 1829, to satisfy a few persons, who inherited 
from Puritan ancestors that spirit of iconoclasm which 
always found vent upon anything in the shape of a 
cross. The resolution to demolish this venerable })ile 
was carried at a meeting of the vestry, which an 
influential member, named Dr. Caleb Jones, was unalde 
to attend. So outraged was he at the proceeding that 
he never afterward took any part in church affairs. 

The home of Dr Jones was an old manor house on 
St. Inigoes Creek, where his descendants now live in 
grateful remembrance of his virtues, and in fortunate 
possession of many interesting documents. 

On a bluff between the house and the water, and in 
sight of Priest's Point, is the garden, whose antiquity 
is attested by its gigantic box-trees with tortuous limbs. 
Here it was laid out two hundred and sixty years ago, 
when Cross Manor belonged to Sir Thomas Cornwaleys, 
" the wisest and ])est of the sfentlemen adventurers who 



Z\)c i?ir6t ^KUfDDing. 



41 



came over in 1().')4." lie was n member of tlie coiineil, 
and was conunissioned by Lord Baltimore to put down 
Claiborne's rebellion in 1G35, engaging- in the first naval 
))attle ever fought on our shores. Cornwaleys brought 
over more than fifty followers. Ten years later, his 
servants, who were Protestants, joined in Ingle's in- 
surrection, burning his house and fences, slaughtering 




An Old Manor House. 

his cattle, and injuring his property to the extent of 
three thousand pounds, for which he afterwards sued 
Ingle. 

The first Protestant marriage recorded at St. ]\Iary's 
was between two of his servants, John Ilollis and 



42 tl)t #ID llBrtck €\)xiu\)t& of Sl9arvlanD. 

Restitutio Tue, tlie ceremony being performed by the 
Rev, Thomas White from Virginia, " a man of good 
sufficiencies of learning," upon whose occasional min- 
istrations the Protestant settlers of St. Mary's had to 
depend. 

The old brick manor house represents three periods 
of architecture from 1650 to 1850. Several stories are 
told to account for the name of this manor. One of 
them is that, early in the days of the Virginia Company, 
a party was sent to explore the rivers and creeks north 
of the Potomac, and as they did not return, a second 
party went to search for them, and found their dead 
bodies on the sandy beach, where they had been mur- 
dered by the Indians. A cross was here erected to mark 
their place of burial, and Cornwaleys, finding this cross, 
named his manor after it. Another story, equally tragic, 
is that Cornw^aleys, while one day hunting with his 
dearest friend accidentally shot him. A cross was raised 
to his memory, and Cornwaleys ever afterwards lived a 
recluse. 

Among the precious relics preserved at Cross Manor 
is the fifth volume of '' A New History of Ecclesiastical 
Writers," translated from the Frencli of Louis Ellies du 
Pin, " Dr. of the Sorbon." It was printed in London 
in 1693. The gold lettering on the substantial leather 
cover informs us that this book belonged to the library 
of '^ St, Marie's," whicli was scattered when the old 
court-house churcli was demolislied. 

Tlie Rev. Thomas Bray was chosen in 1696, by 



2:i)f iriist printing pifs0. 43 

Dr. Comptoii, l^ishop of London, as tlie one best fitted 
to train tlie infant clinrch in Maryland. Seeing tlie 
importance of parish libraries, he established seventeen 
upon his arrival, contributing liberally himself, and 
obtaining assistance at home and abroad for tlieir su})- 
port. Four hundred pounds of the fund was given 
by Princess Anne of Denmark. 

During the session of the Assembly of 1700, a bill, 
which seems to have been the joint production of the 
zealous Doctor and the Attorney-General, was passed 
unanimously by the Assembly, providing " that the Book 
of Common Prayer and administration of the Sacra- 
ments, with the rites and ceremonies of the Church, 
the Psalter and the Psalms of David, with Morning and 
Evening Prayer, therein contained, be solenmly read 
by all and every minister or reader in every church or 
other place of public worship within this Province." 

Leaving quite a number of really good missionaries to 
carry on the work that he had begun. Dr. Bray returned 
to England to procure the Kings sanction to this law, 
which a powerful Quaker influence was enlisted to 
defeat. His mission was successful there, as it had 
been during his brief stay in Maryland. It has been 
stated that Dr. Bray brought over the first printer ; but 
thirty years earlier the Parliamentary Commissioners 
had a printing-press, on which was printed the '' St. 
Marie's Gazette for the Diffusion of Godly Doctrines." 
A public printer was also employed in 1G89, by John 
Coode, " an atheist and a profligate," to issue a 



44 t\)t <B\ti llBricfe €\)uvc\)t& of g^ari?lanD. 

" Declaration of Reasons for organizing an Association 
in Arms for the Defense of the Protestant Rehgion 
and for asserting the Right of King William and Queen 
Mary to the Province of Maryland and to the English 
Dominions." 

The Prayer Book of William and Mary differed 
slightly from that which succeeded it during the reign 
of the Georges. One of these, printed in 1768, is 
preserved at Cross Manor, and also a copy of the first 
American Prayer Book, printed in 1789. In this col- 
lection may be found a '^ Discourse on Confirmation," 
by Jeremy Taylor, printed in 1663, and also a work on 
the " Great Necessity and Advantage of Publick Prayer 
and Frequent Communion," by W. Beveridge, D. D.,. 
Lord Bishop of London. 

A clew to the ancestry of Dr. Caleb Jones, of Cross 
Manor, is found here in an old book, printed in 1700, 
which bears the following title : " The Mysteries of 
Opium, revealed by Dr. John Jones, Chancellor of 
(K , Llanlafi', a Member of the College of Physicians of Lon- 

i don and formerly Fellow of Jesus College in Oxford." 

On the fly leaf is inscribed the name of Matthias Jones, 
" Olim et de jure Glendower." 

Matthias was a turbulent descendant of the " irregfular 
and wild Glendower " who kept Wales in a ferment 
while Henry IV. was absorbed in his scheme of chasing 
the pagans in the " holy fields." He joined in the 
disastrous rebellion of Monmouth, and was forced to 
fly the country. Taking refuge in Mar3dand, he bought 



SDr. Caleb 51onf0, 45 

a part of Cross Manor, which is still in possession of 
his descendants. At the time of the Revolution, the 
Tory branch of the Jones family emigrated to Nova 
Scotia, while Caleb's father, a younger son, adhered to 
the patriot cause. The following extract is from a coi)y 
of the oath taken by Caleb when, in 1835, he joined the 
Twelfth Regiment of the State Militia as surgeon : — 

I, Caleb Morris Jones, do swear that I do not hold myself 
bound in allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and that I will 
be faithful, and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland, so 
help me God. 

I, Caleb Morris Jones, do solemnly swear that I will support 
the Constitution of the United States, so hel[) me God. 

I, Caleb Jones, do most sincerely declare that I believe in the 
Christian religion. 

Another light is here throAvn upon the past by a 
volume called "Lex Mercatoria ; or, Merchant's Direc- 
tory and Complete Cluide to all Men of Business, 
whether as 

Traders, Insurers, 

Remitters, Bankers, 

Owners, Factors, 

Freiglitcrs, Supercargoes, 

Captains, Agents." 

This book fell into the hands of Dr. Caleb Jones as 
executor of one Daniel AVolstenholme, a gentleman who 
was at one time Collector of the Port of St. Mary's, and 
one of the committee appointed in 17G5 to formulate in- 
structions for the members of the Stamp Act Congress. 



46 tl)t 0[t) Briffe Cl)urrl)fg of a9arvlami. 

His home, a romantic spot known as Rose Croft, fur- 
nished a charming background for some of the scenes 
depicted by John P. Kennedy in his novel, " Rob of 
the Bowl." 

Rose Croft descended to Daniel Wolstenholme Camp- 
bell, whose parents, George and Ann, rest in the Rose 
Croft burying-ground, not far from the house, which 
has been altered, from the Dormer-windowed abode of 
the novelist, to an ordinary house with front and back 
porch. Its antiquity is indicated by the end walls 
of brick laid in a bond peculiar to the time, and the 
sides of frame, — a fashion prevailing when brick was 
brought from England, and used sparingly. 

The ground-floor of Rose Croft remains unaltered. 
It was in its spacious halls that Daniel Wolstenholme 
Campbell, in the early part of this century, indulged in 
the general conviviality of his day. A story is told of a 
reckless party assembled here, who, to settle a bet, gal- 
loped off in the dead of night to the churchyard of St. 
Mary's, and with pickaxe and shovel, by the light of a 
torch, opened the way into the vault of a colonial gov- 
ernor. Tiiis dignitary and his wife were found to all 
appearance in a state of perfect preservation. For a 
moment, the thoughtless youths stood gazing upon the 
serene faces of the dead ; then one, more hardy than 
the others, laid his hand upon the lifelike clay, and in- 
stantly it crumbled into dust. Panic-stricken, the revel- 
lers rushed out pell-mell, and shovelled back the earth 
disturbed by their sacrilegious hands. 



Trinity Churcli was rebuilt in 1855, j)artly from tlio 
brick of the old Court House Churcli, whose cruciform 
outline is indicated by several granite ])illars i-ising- 
above the g-raves, and it now belongs to St. Mary's 
Parish. 

Until lately, tradition here marked a mulbeny tree, as 
having witnessed the equitable dealings of the Calverts 
with the Indians ; but it has at last fallen, and the wood 
has been cleverly worked into the church furniture. 
The Bishop of Mar3dand has a gavel made from this 
venerable tree. 



Cl^aptct: TV. 

ST. MARY'S, Continued. — CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS A 
CLERGYMAN'S SUPPORT. — ST. GEORGE'S, POPLAR HILL. — 
CHRIST CHURCH, CHAPTICO. - ST. ANDREW'S. — THE 
REV. MOSES TABBS' WILL. — THE FIRST CHURCH OF ST. 
CLEMENT'S BAY HUNDRED. — WILLIAM BRETTON, ESQ. - 
ALL FAITH PARISH. - THE COOL SPRINGS. — CALVERT 
COUNTY. — CHRIST CHURCH. — MIDDLEHAM CHAPEL. — 
ALL SAINTS.— ST. PAUL'S, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY« 



^ 



IV. 




N 1658-59, when St. Mary's was erectod 
into a county, there were aheacly tlnee 
Protestant churclies in that part of Mary- 
land, and irregular services had been 
held before the arrival of the Rev. Wil- 
liam Wilkinson, the first pastor, who in 1G50 took up 
about nine hundred acres of land, for wliicli he paid to 
the Lord Proprietary a "quit rent" of eigliteen shiUings. 
This clergyman had no regular salary, but he soon won 
the affection of his parishioners, who all contributed their 
mite to his support, — one, William Marshall, " endowing 
him with the milk of three heifers." Another record of 
a voluntary contribution to a rector's support is found 
in the will of Robert Cadger, who in 1676 left in trust 
" to the Major (Mayor), Recorder, Aldermen, and com- 
mon counsell" of St Mary's, and to their successors, 
valuable property to be disposed of "for the mainte-^ 
nance of a Protestant minister from time to time, to be 
among the inhabitants of St. George's and Poplar Hill 
Hundred ; such a one as they shall allow and approve 
of for minister and teacher." The executors were to 
" P'ive account to tlie Aldermen, Coimsell, &c." One of 
these executors was Mr. Francis Sourton, of Devonshire, 



52 t\)t 0[ti l^ricfe Cljurctjcs of ^ar^lanD, 

England. A tombstone bearing the same name lias 
been recently unearthed in St. George's Poplar Hill 
graveyard. The Latin inscription upon it, though 
marred by a break in the stone, has been deciphered 
by the present rector, the Rev. Maurice Vaughan, 
and reads as follows : — 

Francisco Sourtox, Axglo-Devon Francisci Filius 
Veritatis Evaxgelic.e Atque Ecclesiastes, Heic 
Sedulus Vita Bkevi & Saepius Aflicta 
Functus est Sep. 1679. 

The legend, also in Latin, and much defaced by time, 
has been variously translated, and one version runs as 
follows . — 

And thou reader, Hving in the Lord Jesus Christ, keep the 
faith, and thou also, though dead, shalt live. 

Beneath these words is cut a curiously quartered 
shield, which is still an enigma. From its unique de- 
sign and its antiquity, this gravestone is one of the 
most interesting yet discovered in Maryland. 

A horizontal slab in the same graveyard thus per- 
petuates the memory of another early rector : — 

Near this place 

LIES interred the 

Reverend Leigh IMassey 

He was educated at Oxford, 

Rector of this Parish, 

The darlixg of his flock 

And beloved by all who kxew hoi, 

He died Jax. lOth 1732 je 29. 



Cljrist Cl)iirrl), Cljaptico, 53 

In this old gTaveyard stands an inunense tree known 
as " St. George's Oak," and an unbroken chain of tradi- 
tion proves that it was a huidniark one hundred and 
seventy years ago, when it had ah-eady attained gigantic 
proportions. It overshadows tlie j^resent painted brick 
church, wliich in IToO was phiced about fifteen feet 
south of its })redecessor. Thougli tliis churcli offers 
Httle of interest to the artist, the architect, or the an- 
tiquary, a lialo has been thrown around it b}' that 
love of the Church and its traditions, which, in the 
rural districts of Maryland, has survived periods of ex- 
treme adversity. A larger and finer church than that 
at Poplar Hill is Christ Church, Chaptico, St. Mary's 
County, 'wliicli, according to a report to the Council, 
dated July oOtli, 1094, was "going forward to be built." 
This is the parish church of King and Queen Parish, 
and here, as in the adjoining parish of St. Andrew's, 
old customs prevail, and ample room is reserved for 
the negroes, who attend in large numbers. The 
Bishop of Maryland, in a late visit to All Saints' Chapel 
in this parish remarked that there were four times as 
many colored people as white among the communicants. 

About forty years ago, during the rectorship of the 
Rev. Mr. Aisquith, King and Queen Parish was dis- 
turbed by the dissensions of rival vestries, and the valu- 
able parish records disappeared. We know from other 
sources, that its " Taxables " in 1G9G were four hundred 
and seventy-three adults, that its first rector was the 
Rev. Christopher Platts, and that the Rev. J. H. Chew, 



54 t[)t 0\ti 15ncfe Cljurcljrs of 90aivlnnD. 

a relative of Bishop Claggett, officiated at Oliaptico in 
1845. 

The design of tliis church, simple but in perfect har- 
mony, is attributed to no less a personage than Sir 
Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, 
London. The base is bevelled about three feet above 
the ground, the bricks being- laid in alternate rows of 
long and short, while in the rest of the ])uilding- each 
brick is laid side to end in a style known as '' Flemish 
Bond." There is a round arched window, with small 
panes of glass, in the organ loft, corresponding to the 
original windows of the church. Among tlie memorial 
windows which have replaced some of these, we find 
one donated by the Maddox family in 1842, in memory 
of a line of ancestors extending back to lOGH. 

Tlie two stained-glass windows in the apsidal chancel 
were inserted about fifteen years ago, during the rector- 
ship of the Rev. Pinkney Hammond. Tlie marble font 
near the chancel is one of the many gifts to the church 
in Maryland ascribed to Queen Anne. The buildino- 
has a high-pitched roof and a small wooden belfry. The 
nave is separated from the side aisles by columns with 
Corinthian capitals. The main ceiling is vaulted; the 
side ceilings are flat. The brickwork of the exterior is 
painted yellow and the woodwork white. St. Andrew's 
Parish Church, built in 1756, was doubtless copied from 
this church. The windows, however, are not arched, 
and the brick is not pahited ; the floors are of flagstone, 
and the pews, though cut down, are not modern, like 



t{)( UfUrrruD a^osrs tnhbs, 55 

those of C'lirist Cliiircli. In both chiirclies the vestr}- 
room is on one side, near the entrance. 

In the rear of Christ Cluu-cli is a toml) of the Kev 
family, whose })rogenitor was instrnmental in bnihUni;- 
tlie church, and whose homestead stands near the court- 
house at Leonardtown ; and to tlie riglit is buried an 
eccentric, wlio requested to be " [danted in an upriglit 
position." 

The Kev. Moses Tabbs, rector of St. (George's, Pophu- 
Hill, is also buried here, aiul the bill for his funeral 
expenses is as follows : — 

the 

Deciiir S 1770 
:\rr Bond Dr 

To Mr IMosses Tabs"^ burial 

To the Minister 6:0 

Clerk 4:0 

Ground 15 : 

Grave Digging 6 : Q 

Invitation 10 : 

bell 3:0 

Watchman 8:0 

Pall 1-0-0 

3-13-0 
Kecv"' of Mr W" Bond the above in full 

pr Jacob Diegel, 

Sexlon of Christ Church. 

The Boston fire occurred dm-ing- the Rev. Moses 
Tabbs' rectorship, and in a letter written by him to 
Governor Sharpe in 1760 he mentions liaving handed 
over to the sheriff the sum of £17 11.'?. 4r7., collected 
at the Poplar Hill Church for the sufferers by that fire. 



56 



ti)t a^ln I5rick Cljurcljfs of tl^arvlauD. 



The will of the Rev. Moses Tabbs, brought to probate 
June 8th, 1779, mentions his ''good, dear, and beloved 
wife, Sarah Tabbs," to whom he leaves the use of a 
plantation, called " Tabbs' Purchase," for the mainte- 
nance of herself and children, with " the horses, black 
cattle and stock of every kind, corn, tobacco, household 




Ax Old Pabsoxage. 

furniture and plate as it now stands ; together with the 
use of the following negroes ; Xan and old Xell, Clem- 
ent and Phyllis Toby and Hannah, Duke and Jennv." 
These possessions constituted a man s wealth in patri- 
archal days. He also wills that his " Dear & beloved 
wife bind out to trade, Theophilus, Thomas & Daniel 



i^rrDrric, t[)t Last of tljc LorDs proprirran\ 57 

Tabbs that they may be rendered capable, by God's 
blesshig, to procure an honest Hvehhood ; " and further 
he desires that his son Bai'ton shall " have learning 
enough either for a Protestant ^linister, Lawyer, or 
Phvsician." His son George was to inhent the home 
place, the family honors, and the plate, when it should 
please God to summon his '' good, dear and well-be- 
loved wife out of a world of pain & soitows to his 
Eternal rest." He adds, '^ My will & last testament is 
that she do faithfully and conscientiously and impar- 
tiallv distribute the sui'vi\'ing negi'oes, together with the 
whole fortune she shall die possessed of, Justly and 
honestlv to the above-mentioned children, according to 
their beha\dor." Dr. Barton Tabbs was the executor 
of the parson's will, which leads us to infer that it 
had been made some years before his death, and that 
the son, intended by him for a profession, had obeyed 
his father's wishes. 

Tabbs- Purchase was a portion of his Lordship's manor 
of Snow Hill. Frederic, the last and the worst of the 
Lords Proprietaiy, cared notliing for the province, for 
whose welfare his ancestor. Cecil Calvert, had labored 
so faithfullv: and, in course of time. Snow Hill and 
other lands reserved for the L. .rd Proprietary's use were 
put into the hands of commissioners to be disposed of, in 
order to raise money for his dissipations. 

Chaptico was also one of the baronial manors belong- 
ino- to the Calverts. Tlu-oughout that section of the 
counti-v are to be found old homes associated with liis- 



58 ti)t #ID 15rick Cljuicljcs of ^aai^lanD. 

toric times, and the old Thomas place, called Deep Falls 
on account of its terraces, is an interesting spot about 
three miles from the church. 

To the west of Leonardtown, the county seat of St. 
Mary's, is to be found one of the few brick structures 
remaining- to the Roman Catholics from the colonial 
period. This is the quaint little chapel of St. Francis, 
erected by Father Ashley in 1767. The first place of 
Roman Catholic worship in Maryland was an Indian 
building made of bark, called a " witchott," which they 
found at the village of Yaocomoco upon first landing, 
and adapted to the ritual of their church. Their first 
chapel of any prominence was not built until 1661, 
when " Wm. Bretton Esqr. with the good liking of his 
dearly beloved wife Temperance Bretton," " to the 
greater honor and glory of Almighty God, tlie ever 
Immaculate Virgin Mary and all saints," granted to 
tlie Roman Catholic inhabitants of Newtown and 
St. Clement's Bay and their posterity, an acre and 
a half of ground for a chapel and a cemetery. This 
record is of interest ; for although the chapel of 
St. Ignatius has long since disappeared, tlie ceme- 
tery is undoubtedly the same that one passes on 
the way to the Bretton Manor House, a mile or two 
further down the Neck. This house belongs to the 
priests, and is now occupied by a tenant, who ftxrms the 
land and opens the chapel of St. Francis to visitors. 
The house was originally one story high, witli a curb 
roof, as is shown by a seam in the brick on the gable 



end. The foundations of a former dwelling can be 
traced, in very dry Aveatlier, between the chapel and 
the manor liouse ; and there the worthy couple, William 
and Temperance, probably lived when the deed of KKIl 
was signed. The land lies between St. Clement's ]3ay 
and Britton's Bay, and is known as Beggar's Neck, 
probably from the tradition that William Bretton died 
in poverty. His son and daughter are on record as 
having received alms ; but the latter years of his life 
are veiled in mystery, and the causes of his reverses 
unknown. It seems indeed the irony of fate that a man 
who had been a large landholder, a public benefactor, a 
soldier at St. Inigoes Fort, a register of the Provincial 
Court, and a clerk of the Assembly of 1650, should have 
dropped so completely from the ken of man, and that 
his children should have been found begging their 
bread. 

But to return to the Episcopal Church. Another 
ancient parish, situated in St. Mary's County and 
having an "old brick church," is ''All Faith," which 
belonged to Calvert when that county extended on 
both sides of the Patuxent Piver. The first church 
was already standing in 1692. Its successor occu- 
pies the same site at the fork of Trent Creek, not 
far from the Military School at Charlotte Hall, where 
the earliest known springs of the State, called the 
''Cool Springs," Avere situated. The first vestrj'men 
on record were Captain James Keech, John Smith, 
Richard Southern, John Gillam, Charles Asheam, and 



60 t^t <i^lD Bricfe C^urcljcs; of ^ari?lanD. 

Captain R. Gardiner. The name of Captain James 
Keecli reappears in a docnment dated June 4tli, 1698, 
which throws some hg-lit upon one of the good deeds 
of a royal governor of the province. It runs as 
follows : — 

" Mr. PhiHp Lyiies appearing at the board and giving an ac- 
count of some extraordinary cures lately wrought at the ' Cool 
Springs,' St. Mary's County, and that several poor people flocked 
thither to recover their health, his excellency the governor 
is to send and give to those poor people at the Cool Springs 
ten Bibles there to remain. His excellency the governor also 
orders that Captain James Keech and Mr. Philip Lynes do pro- 
vide some sober person to read prayers there twice a day, and is 
pleased to lend the person who reads prayers a book of Homilies, 
tw^o books of family devotions and a book of reformed devotions 
by Dr. Theophilus Darrington, out of which books he is to read to 
them on Sundays. Further ordered that the said Captain Keech 
acquaint Captain John Dent, who is the owner of said house and 
land, that if he be willing, his excellency will have made a read- 
ing desk and some benches to be placed in the new house there 
for the use of the poor people there gathered together. His ex- 
cellency is pleased also to allow to the said people every Sunday 
a mutton and as much corn as will amount to thirteen shillings 
a week. 

" Ordci-ed that the person who reads jirayers take an account 
of what persons come thither who are cured and of what 
distempers." 

Before introducing to the reader the brick churches 
of Calvert County, " lying- east side of Patuxent," a few 
words should be said about the county itself. Erected 
in 1654, at a time when rival factions were contendinor 
on its borders, it became in 1672 the scene of a g-reat 



Ctjris^t Ctjurrl), CaltJfVt Counti?. Gl 

velio'ioiis awakening. Tlils was owing to the preaching 
of George Fox, the Quaker, and all chisses and all sects 
flocked to hear him, and when he returned to England, 
in IGTo, the need of spiritual masters was more than 
ever felt. 

A letter written by the Rev, John Yeo in 10 7(1, urging 
the necessity of more clergy being sent to the province, 
failed to call forth a response from England, and it 
was not till 1G8G, after the Archbishop of Canterbury 
had been a])pealed to by a woman, — Mary Taney, the 
wife of Michael Taney, the county sheriff, — that the 
matter was considered seriously, and the Rev. Paul 
Bertrand was sent over, his expenses being paid fi-om 
the secret service fund of the King. 

A church had already been built on ground given by 
Mr. Francis Maiden out of his tract called " Prevent 
Dano-er." This was the predecessor of Christ Church. 
Two brick buildings have successively occupied this 
site ; the first was of brick brought from England in 
1732, and the second Avas built by Colonel Alexander 
Somervell about the year 1772. 

Christ Church Parish celebrated its bi-centennial in 
1<S92 ; and, during the services held at the church, a l^ible 
was used, which was two hundred and twenty years old. 
An existing document refers to a register of Inrths, 
deaths, and marriages, dating back to 1672, which, with \ 
other records, is supposed to have perished in one of 
those court-house fires, which have been so disastrous 
to our local history. 



ita 



62 t\^t <0lD llBiicfe Cl)urfl)C0 of 3^ar^lanD. 

The names of the first vestrymen were as follows : — 

Richard Smith. Capt. John Clagget. 

Henry Fernley. Francis Malden. 

John Manning. Samuel Hollingsvvorth. 

The Rev. Henry Hall, w^lio died in charge of St. 
James', Anne Arundel County, in 1723, was rector of 
Christ Church from 1695 to 1697. 

Middleham Chapel, in the same parish, was rebuilt in 
1 748. It retains a quaint old bell given by John Hold- 
worth to the first chapel in 1699. 

A second parish, laid out in Calvert County in 1692, 
on the east side of the Patuxent, is "All Saints'," which 
also possesses an old Ijrick church. The first vestrymen 
of this parish were : — 

Walker Smith. John Scott. 

William Nichols. John Leech. 

William Turner. John Hause. 

Another parish, in what is now known as Prince 
George's County, is that of St. Paul's, and the church 
is the same alluded to in tlie court proceedings of Feb. 
14th, 1692-93, as "the church being built at Charles- 
Town." It has been altered and enlarged, till it bears 
slight resemblance to its sisters of the same age. It is 
cruciform, and on its west front is an iron sundial of 
antique design, bearing the motto, " Sic transit gloria 
mundi." It possesses an interesting relic in the marble 
font, which is said to have been presented by Queen 



popular £r>flu0ion, 63 

Anne. This font was sent to England for repairs, after 
liaving gone tln-ough the war of the Revolution, and it 
is still in use. The stained-glass chancel window was 
presented by the Rev. John H. Chew in memory of his 
distinguished relative, Bishop Claggett, who was twice 
rector of the church. The bishop's gravestone is to be 
found in the Claggett burial-ground, not far distant, and 
it bears a Latin inscription, written by Francis Scott 
Key, of " Star Spangled Banner" fcune. A late rector of 
this parish says that it covers an area of sixty square 
miles ; that within its boundaries there is not another 
resident minister of relig'ion of any denomination, and 
that there are over two hundred communicants. He 
adds that " it is not an uncommon delusion to think of 
the Roman Catholic Church of Marjdand as altogether 
in the ascendant." To dispel this delusion one has only 
to visit the rural districts of Maryland, and to study 
the history of its old brick churches. 



Cl)aptcr V. 



PURITAN SETTLEMEiNTS. — THE "ACT CONCERNING 

RELIGION. ' — THE QUAKERS. — ANCIENT 

PARISHES OF ANNE ARUNDEL 

COUNTY. — ST. JAMES', 

HERRING CREEK. 

THE CHEWS. 



¥> 



He 



V. 




E have seen the beginnings of Anglo- 
Catholic Kent, of Konian Catholic St. 
Clary's, and now we will glance at 
Puritan Anne Arundel, or Providence, 
as it was called by its grateful settlers, 
flying from religious intolerance in Virginia. 

The year 1649 marks the arrival on the banks of the 
Severn River of a small band consisting of about ten 
families, nnder the leadership of Richard Bennett. The 
celebrated '' Act Concerning Religion " was passed by 
the Maryland Assembly that same year. It embodied 
the distinctive features of Puritan legislation in Eng- 
land resfardino: the observance of Sunday ; and dancing, 
vaulting, archery, and other sports that had been 
allowed during the reign of Charles I., were pro- 
hibited on that day. 

The " Act " also provided for the protection of all 
Christian sects in the exercise of their religion, and 
forl)ade a disparaging use of the words Heretic, Schis- 
matic, Idolater, Jesuit, Papist, Priest, Presbyterian, In- 
dependent, Lutheran, Baptist, Brownist, Antinomian, 
Burrowist, Brownist, Round Head, or any other secta- 
rian name, and imposed a fine of ten pounds for the 
transg-ression of this law. 



^ 



B 



68 ti)t (©It) llBrtch Cl;urc!;c0 of 99art?lanD. 

For speaking disrespectfully of the lioly apostles or 
saints, or of the Virgin Mary, the first offence was a fine, 
the second whipping or imprisonment, and the third 
banishment. To deny the Trinity was punishable with 
death ; but there is no evidence that this last clause was 
ever carried into effect. In 1650 another influx of Puri- 
tans arrived, headed by Robert Brooke, who seems, in 
the present era of genealogical research, to have more 
descendants in search of their ancestral link than any 
other personage in the State. This is not surprising, 
as he brought with him eight sons and two daughters, 
many of whose descendants achieved public distinction. 
He had from the Proprietary a grant of two thousand 
acres on the Patuxent River, and was made by his 
charter commander of Charles County, having absolute 
feudal supremacy over his colony. 

Anne Arundel County at this time was under the 
commandership of Edward Lloyd, who had received 
his appointment from William Stone, the Protestant 
Governor of Maryland; but the settlers of Providence 
had brought the Puritan S3^stem of church government 
with them, and Bennett and Durand were their pre- 
siding elders. 

A meeting-house was built near the Magothy River, 
and Mr. Philip Thomas, then a strict Puritan, but later 
a leader of the Quakers, lived on the premises, and 
guarded the sanctuary. The more Orthodox among 
the Patuxent settlers removed to Anne Arundel, and 
here were for some time preserved the characteristics 



t\)t Hfins of aoljfinmcnt in piintau ijauDj?. fio 

of Puritanism, wliicli were lost under a system of feudal 
laws and manorial courts in the settlement of the first 
Charles County. 

The oatli of fidelity to the Lord Proprietary was 
modified in 1(!50 by another Act of Assembly, and 
the words " Absolute Lord " and " Royal Jurisdiction," 
which stuck in the Puritan throat, were ex})unged. 
From this year the Roman Catholic power declined, 
and Maryland became largely Protestant. 

For eight years the reins of government were in Puri- 
tan hands, till matters were finally adjusted to the liking 
of these troublesome subjects of Cecil, Lord Baltimore. 
After this the Puritans of Anne Arundel gave the Pro- 
prietary no trouble, and in 1G89, when the Protestant 
Revolution broke out, they alone refused to sign tlie 
petition to their Majesties, William and Mary, to repeal 
his charter. 

Close in the wake of the Puritans followed the 
Quakers, who, like them, had been persecuted else- 
where. Slowly and quietly this thrifty and peace-loving 
people won the favor of the colonists; and in 1665 we 
find the very men holding minor offices, who had been 
complained of as " vagabonds and seditious persons," 
because they refused to sit on juries and take the oath, 
or serve in the militia. They were relieved from taking 
the oath in testamentary cases, and were permitted to 
wear their hats on all occasions ! 

The first house built for the "Yearly Meeting" of 
" Friends " was at West River, where an interesting 



70 t{)t Mn 35nck Cljurcljfs of ai^arvlanD. 

old graveyard is still to be seen. The Galloways, 
Murrays, Cliestoiis, Chews, and others, who afterwards 
became influential members of the Episcopal Church, 
attended this " meeting-house." 

In 1672, when George Fox preached in Anne Arun- 
del, the Puritan meeting-house was thrown open to him, 
for many of those who were stanch Puritans ten years 
before were now zealous Quakers. Sometimes this had 
been effected by marriage, as in the case of Samuel 
Chew, whose wife, Anne Ayres, was of that faith. 

It was in this part of the province where stern Pu- 
ritanism was softened by contact with the gentle Friend, 
that four Church of England parishes were laid out in 
1692, and here are to be found at present three brick 
churches dating from colonial times. Tliese churches 
represent the parishes of St. Margaret's Westminster, 
of All Hallows', and of St. James ; but these localities, 
knoum originally as Broad Neck, South River, and Her- 
ring Creek, had their places of worship before 1692. 

The Rev. Duell Pead, of Soutli River, afterwards All 
Hallows' Parish, performed the rites of baptism at An- 
napolis in 1682 and in 1690 In 1683 he preached be- 
fore both houses of the Assembly, which was held that 
year at the " Ridge" in Anne Arundel County. 

The records of St. James', or Herring Creek Parish, 
show that at a meeting of the vestry held on the 1st 
of April, 1695, it was ordered that the sheriff pay 
Morgan Jones eight hundred pounds of tobacco for 
" coverincr the old church and finishino^ the inside 



fe)t. 51amf6\ llKrnng Cifffe. 



71 



according- to agreement," — a conclusive fact that there 
was a church before tlic parishes were laid out in 
1G92. At another meeting, held on the 29th of April, 
it was ordered that a church be built " forty feet by 
twenty-four, and twelve feet high ; " l)ut this order was 
not carried out until 1717, when the vestrymen " or- 
dered, and in 171S paid for, twenty thousand bricks 
made upon the glebe." This glebe was acquired by 




St. James', Herhing Creek, Church Silver. 

the church in 1707, when an Act of Assembly was 
passed for investing the vestrymen of St. James' Parish, 
Anne Arundel County, with certain lands given to said 
parish by Mr. James Rigby, and P]lizabeth, his wife, 
both deceased. 

In 1760 the church was again rebuilt, and is still 
standing. It is nearly square, and has a hip roof like 
the one on the present All Hallows' Church, whicli dates 
from about 1722; but while the latter is open inside to 



ij-aita 



72 ti)t #ID Brirfe €\)uu\)cs of a^arvlauD. 

tlie roof, St James' has a vaulted ceiling spanning the 
building and slanting off at the ends to harmonize with 
the conformation outside. There are two aisles, and 
three sections of square pews with doors. The win 
dows, with their deep embrasures, are rounded at the 
top, and in most of them the small panes are still 
preserved. There are two stained-glass windows in 
the chancel, and the corners near it are boxed off 
into vestry-room and choir, — which necessary contriv- 
ances mar the effect of the otherwise perfect interior ; 
they, moreover, hide the tablets containing the Lord's 
Prayer and the Creed, which, with the Ten Command- 
ments covering the space between the chancel win- 
dows, were probably procured with the legacy of £10 
given in 1723 by the wife of William Locke, Esq., 
" towards adorning the altar of St James with Creed, 
Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments." The altar 
in those days often meant the enclosure within the 
chancel rail, which in this church extended originally 
across the east end. 

William Locke himself gave money for a silver basin 
or baptismal bowl, which is now one of the four pieces 
of which the church plate consists. It bears the date of 
1732, and also the name of the donor, wnth the word 
" Armigeri " after it ; but what was his coat of arms we 
do not know. 

The alms basin was the gift of the rector, the Rev. 
Henry Hall, who died in 1723. The other pieces look 
as if they might be of an earlier date, and all are men- 



Mljipping post anD &>tochs. 73 

tioned in the church inventories of 1748 and ITo'J, when 
they were phiced in care of the vestry. Among- the 
articles mentioned on tlie list of 1752 was a flao-on, 
wliicli has disappeared, and also "one hood," wliicli 
indicates that a man of learning- liad been in cliaro-c 
of the })arish 

Such are the signs of prosperity and honor in tliis 
parish ; but an order entered on the church records for 
whipping-- post and stocks shows that it possessed also 
these instruments of shame, as did many parislies at that 
time, where vestrymen exercised judicial power, and 
churchwardens administered punishment on the spot. 

The minister of the parish, who was chief vestr^'man, 
was obliged, under penalty of a fine, to read from tlie 
chancel four times a year the laws concerning Sabbatli- 
breaking, drunkenness, swearing, and other offences. 

Tlie vestrymen generally occupied together a place of 
honor in the church, thus impressing the community 
with tlieir dignity and authority. 

In the graveyard of St. James' is a slab raised in 
1665 to a nameless woman, whose virtues in life and 
whose departure to realms of the blessed inspired the 
following- lines : — 

This register is for her bones 
Her fame is more perpetual than the stones 
And still her virtues though her life be gone 
Shall live when earthly monuments are none 
Who, reading this can chuse but drop a tear 
For such a wife and such a Mother dear 
She ran her race and now is laid to rest 
And allaluecie sings among the blest. 



74 t\)t (i^lD llBricb Cljurclies of SjSarnlanD* 

The Rev. Henry Hall also lies in St. James' church- 
yard, under a horizontal slab mounted on a brick foun- 
dation. Another slab, flat to the ground, bears this 
inscription : — 

Here lies the body of the Hon. Seth Biggs Esq. 

WHO departed this life & WAS INTERRED THE 31*^ 

OF July 1708 in the 55th year of his age. 

No tombstone of the Chew family is found in this 
graveyard, althougli the estate of Samuel Chew was 
near Herring Bay, and in his will he styles himself 
Samuel Chew of Herrington. In 1669 he was sworn 
in as one of the justices of the Chancery and Provin- 
cial Courts. A land writ, issued to him in 1650 by 
the Lord Proprietary, calls him his " Lordship's well- 
beloved Saml. Chew, Esq.," and his name appears in both 
Houses of Assembly until 1676, the year of his death. 

His grandson. Dr. Samuel Chew of Maidstone, an 
estate near Annapolis, married twice into the Galloway 
family of Tulip Hill, West River. He afterwards re- 
moved to Dover, and was created Chief-Justice of the 
three lower counties of the Province of Pennsylvania, 
now included in the State of Delaware. He was called 
the fighting Quaker, and his vigorous speecli on the 
lawfulness of self-defence is celebrated in verse by a 
local poet of the time, as follows : — 

Immortal Chew first set our Quakers right ; 
He made it plain they might resist and fight ; 
And gravest Dons agreed to what he said, 
And freely gave their cash for the King's aid, 
For war successful, and for peace and trade. 



^amufl Cl)fto, t\)t ifiglKtng iEiuakcr. 75 

The Assembly for the lower counties passed a militia 
law, with provision for arms, ammunition, etc., wliicli 
the Quakers endeavored to frustrate by declaring it 
" contrary to their charter and privileges." The Chief- 
Justice sustained the law, for which he was expelled 
from the Quaker community. In a leading gazette 
of the time appeared an article from his pen, wliich 
miglit be called an Essay on the Theory and Practice 
of Toleration. 

" New sects," he says, " are all able clearly to prove 
that matters of judgment and opinion, not being under 
the power and direction of the will, ought to be left free 
and unmolested to all men ; but once installed and con- 
firmed, we too often find tliat those very people who 
have contended for liberty of conscience and universal 
toleration become more clear-sighted, and soon discover 
the necessity for uniformity in matters of religion. The 
people called Quakers," he says, '' are a surprising ex- 
ample of this spirit of peace and charity maintained as 
long as they had occasion for it ; that is, as long as they 
were oppressed and persecuted; . . . but in process of 
time, liaving grown Rich and Powerful!, they extend tlicir 
Jurisdiction, and carry their claim so higli as, for differ- 
ences concerning even speculative matters, to exclude 
persons from their society with hard names, and other 
marks of bitterness worthy of the Pope himself. . . 
Tlieir bulls of excommunication are as full-fraught with 
fire and brimstone and other church artillery as those 
even of the Pope of Rome." 



^- ' 



76 t\)t #lD 15nck €\)mt\)ts of spar^lanD. 

Samuel Chew was the father of Benjamin, tlie ilUis- 
trious Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania, whose house at 
Cliveden, Germantown, was used as a temporary for- 
tification against American bullets at the time of the 
Revolution, creating a diversion after the battle of Ger- 
mantown which kept the Amei'icans from following up 
tlieir advantage. 

Benjamin tried to be neutral when hostilities broke 
out, but was tlu'own into confinement with John Penn, 
on the principle that " those who are not with us are 
against us.'' 

The welcome given by his daughters to tlie British 
officers was also a cause of complaint. Of these, Major 
Andre selected Peggy Chew as his " Lady of tlie 
Blended Rose" in the famous Mischianza Tourney and 
fete. 

The following verses addressed to her by Andre are 
preserved by one of her descendants : — 

If at the close of war and strife 

M}^ destiny once more 

Should in the various paths of life 

Conduct me to this shore ; 

Should British banners guard the land, 

And faction be restrained, 

And Cliveden's mansion peaceful stand, 

No more with blood be stained ; 

Say, wilt thou then receive again 

And welcome to thy sight 

The youth who bids, with stifled pain, 

His sad fai'ewell to-night ? 



Peggy and Harriet Chew were borne as brides to 
Maryland by two distinguished characters of the time, 
Colonel John Eager Howard, and Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton, only son of " the Signer." 

The little Tory, Peggy, had at first cherished a feel- 
ing of bitterness toAvard the hero of Cowpens, because 
he had vanquished her beloved Red-coats ; but meeting 
him one night at a ball, where he stood apart, with his 
arm in a sling, she became interested in the silent man, 
who not long afterwards achieved the conquest of her 
lieart. Years afterward her cliildren would gather around 
her to listen to tales of the Revolution. One night, Avliile 
their father was apparently absorbed in his book, their 
mother talked of Andre, tliat " most brilliant and ele- 
gant gentleman." The Colonel rose, and striding toward 
the group, exclaimed, " Don't listen to her, children ! 
He was nothing but a damned spy ! " 



Ci^apter vi. 

ANNE ARUNDEL, Continued. - THE SOUTH RIVER CLUB. 
ALL HALLOWS' CHURCH. -THE REV. JOSEPH COL- 
BATCH. — MARLEY CHAPEL. — ODD NAMES. 
ST. ANNE'S PARISH. — THE DORSEYS. 
QUEEN CAROLINE PARISH 
CHURCH, HOWARD 
COUNTY. 



^ 




VI. 



PROMINENT colonist of Soutli River 
was the Hon. William Burgess, wliose 
tombstone is one of the oldest in IMar}'^- 
land. His epitaph runs as folloAvs : — 



Here lyeth ye body of W. Burges Esq, who de- 
parted THIS LIFE ON YE 24 DAY OF JaNU., 1686 ; AGED 
ABOUT 64 YEARS ; LEAVING HIS DeAR BELOVED WIFE 

Ursula and eleven children; viz. seven sons and 

FOUR daughters, AND EIGHT GRANDCHILDREN. 

In HIS LIFETIME HE WAS A MEMBER OF HIS LoKD- 

SHip's Council of State; one of his Lordship's 
Deputy-governors, a Justice of ye High Provin- 
cial Court, Colon, of a regiment of ye Trained 
Bands, and sometime General of all ye INIilitary 
Forces of this Province. 

His loving wife Ursula, his Executrix, In tes- 
timony of her true respect, and due regard to 
the Deserts of her dear deceased Husband, hath 
erected this Monument. 

All Hallows' Graveyard, South River, is full of these 
memorials, suggesting different phases of human life 
in the past. In one secluded corner stands an elaborate 
stone to the memory of Elizabeth Allein, and in another 
an altar tomb to "My Louisa;" on a third tablet is a 



^S^-^ 



82 



tlK Mti IBricfe €i)nvd)t& of ^arDlanD. 



'f'"^ 





■F^Si^BPrw^''''^' 



'SJ''-<t 



coat-of-arms, indicating- that Samuel Peele, of London 
town, who died in 17o3, indulged in the " boast of 
heraldry and the pomp of power." On another is 
a Latin inscription, dated 
1766, recording the virtues 
of Margaret, wife of James 
Dick, " Merchant of London 
town." This was doubt- 
less the town founded by 
William Burg-ess in 1680, 
but now extinct. 

In liis " Day star of Amer- 
ican Freedom," George L. 





Graves of the Dick Family. 



L. Davis says : " From this town's successful rival- 
ship with Annapolis, during the first few years ; from 
the antiquity of the South River Club ; and from the 
superior style of the monumental inscriptions at the 



t\)t fe>outlj IXibrr Club, 83 

parish cliiircli and upon the phxntations ; I infer, 
the settlement, in point of intellectual culture and re- 
finement, upon this river, was in advance of the one 
upon the other" (the Severn). He also says that it 
chiefly consisted of Puritans and ilnglo-Catholics. 

The South River Club-house still stands, and is now 
lent to the local Grangers for their meetings. Here 
the good loyal subjects of the King once met to drink 
his health on such occasions as the birth or wedding 
of a prince, and here, no doubt, the hons vivants of the 
day tested the best way of cooking the terrapin, the 
canvas-back duck, the oyster, and the soft-shell crab. 
The menu on the most festive occasions always included 
pork in some form or another; a roasted "sucking pig," 
with an apple in his mouth, was a substitute for the 
boar's head of old England ; and the turkey, though 
less picturesque than the feathered peacock, was a 
toothsome morsel when stuffed with oysters, boiled, 
and served with a good "nip of punch," which was. 
the popular beverage at the time, although Madeira, in 
heavy cut-glass decanters, resting in silver-plated coas- 
ters, was to be found on every gentleman's sideboard. 
Tlie South River Club is in easy driving distance from 
Annapolis, and many prominent men of " ye olden 
time" in Maryland belonged to it. The list of its 
founders is lost, but there exists a deed, dated 1740, 
which was executed between John Gassaway on the 
one part, and Robert Sanders as trustee on the other, 
confirming a previous transaction between the " Society, 



84 tl)t <DlD 115rick Cl)urrl)f0 of spaiTlanU. 

or Company, called the South River Club," and John 
Gassaway's father, acknowledging the receipt by the 
latter of eight pounds current money for the half-acre 
of land, and club-house standing upon it. 

A new club-house was built in 1742, and from that 
date a list of members has been preserved. On this 
list we find the names of several clergymen, — the Rev. 
William Brogden, the Rev. Archibald Spooner, the Rev. 
Mason L. Weems, — and also members of the families 
of Stockett, Burgess, Dick, Moore, Caton, Nicholson, 
Maccubbin, Hall, Lux, West, Harwood, Hammond, 
Stewart, Brewer, and others. 

Now, it is time to say something about old All 
Hallows' Church, South River. It is entered by 
the south door, and opens into a vestry-room at 
tlie west end, which was once surmounted by a bel- 
fry with a bell, bearing the date 1727. The floor of 
tlie aisles is tiled, and lies lower than that of the 
pews. The windows are double, with a segmental 
arch, — a style of church architecture temporarily 
adopted between 1720 and 1740, though now com- 
mon. An interesting fact connected witli tliis church 
is that in 1727 the Bishop of London sent for the 
rector, the Rev. Joseph Colbatch, to come to England 
for consecration. He consented to go, but the civil 
authorities procured a writ of ne exeat, by which he 
was forbidden to leave the province. The church in 
Maryland, therefore, continued without a bishop, and 
the scandals among the clergy remained unchecked. 



2^ 



^parlfii Cljapel. 85 

To show tlie feeliuo- ng-ainst bisliops, we quote 
the foHowing- extract from a coiiteinporary writer: 
" Throughout tlie Southern provinces the members of 
the Estabhshed Church i^-reatly exceed tliose of otlier 
denominations, yet I am persuaded that any attempt 
to estabhsh a hierarch}' would be resisted \\]{]\ as 
mucii acrimony as during the gloomy jjrevalency of 
Puritanical zeal." 

The original parish church of St. Margaret's West- 
minster stood on Severn Heights. It was destroyed 
by fire many years ago, and the records perished with 
it. The foundation, surrounded by a few tombstones, 
alone marks the site. This, with the comnnniion silver, 
bearing the date 1713, and a deserted ruin of a chapel 
in some pine woods near Marley, nine miles from Bal- 
timore, are faithful relics of the past. 

Ruins have an advantage for the antiquary that 
restorations have not ; for while the construction of 
a church may be disturbed by many devices to arrest 
decay, a ruin is faithful to tlie original design. A de- 
scription of Marley Chapel may therefore throw some 
light upon the time when it was built. The ceiling, a 
segmental arch from which much of the plaster has 
fallen, is supported by wooden cornices, and the brick- 
work over the doors and windows follows tlie same 
curve. Between the two windows at the east end, a 
stretch of cleaner plaster indicates that some of the 
church furniture once stood there, — possibly a canopied 
pulpit, familiarly known as a "three decker;" or per- 
haps a tablet for the Commandments. 



86 ti)t 0\n y&titk Cl)iircJ)e0 of S^ar^lanD. 

The bare ground enclosed in this ruin indicates that 
either a brick or tile pavement covered the aisle, and 
that tlie pews were raised above this pavement and 
probably floored with boards. There remain only a few 
beams of all the woodwork. At one time the walls 
enclosed a stable, and now they are only useful as 
a shelter for the berry-pickers who swarm in Anne 
Arundel County during- the busy season. The aban- 
donment of Marley Chapel to these uses may be 
explained by the fact that the truck farmers of this 
region are generally Baptists or Methodists. 

A liberal patron of St. Margaret's Westminster Parish, 
was Charles Greenberry, son of Colonel Nicholas 
Greenberry, the emigrant of 1674. Dying in 1713, 
Charles left his estate of Whitehall to the church, 
and one hundred years ago there was a burj'ing- 
ground at Whitehall, as the following extract from the 
parish record shows : "Be it remembered that John 
Ridout, Esq., a native of Dorset, England, departed 
this life on the 7th day of October, Anno Domini, 
1797, and was buried at Whitehall, the ceremony 
being solemnized by the Rev. Ralph Higginbottom, 
of St. Anne's Pari si i." 

This register records also bits of personal history, 
like the following: "John Stinchcomb was born in 1717, 
and lost his nose with a fall when he was very young ; " 
besides many odd Christian names, such as Bignall, 
Umphra, Yourruth, Arretto, Comfort, Venesha, Constant, 
and Resen. In all probability, the clerk was partly 



g>t. 0nnr's parisl), annnpolis;. 87 

responsible for their oddity, lIuini)liroy, Umtli, and 
Reason being names still fonnd in the i-ural (Ustricts. 

In 16<S9 Anne Arundel County was reported as tlie 
most populous and richest of the province. The rec- 
ords of St. Anne's Parish at Annapolis contain the names 
of many distinguished men. Sir Francis Nicholson, 
who succeeded Sir Lionel Copley as governor in 1C94, 
gave a great impetus to the growth of the tow^n. The 
act for the building of King William's School was 
passed in 1692. 

A proof of St. Anne's honorable age as a parish 
is found in a set of communion plate of solid silver, 
made in London, in 1695, by Francis Garthorne, and 
eng-raved wdth the arms of William III. 

Of the first " body corporate for keeping good 
order" w^ere Nicholas Greenberry, Colonel Edward 
Dorsey, and Captain Richard Hill. The first session 
of the Legislature in 1694 was held at the house of 
Edward Dorsey, and again in 1706, after the State 
House w^as burned, it met there. 

Colonel Edward Dorsey left several sons, one of 
whom inherited an estate at Elkridge, Howard 
County, which was then part of Baltimore County. 
Years later Caleb Dorsey, a fox-hunting bachelor of 
Elkridge, was one day following the hounds, wdien 
he found himself in a part of the country he had 
never seen before ; and meeting a young horsewoman, 
followed by a groom in livery, he ventured to inquire 
of her the way to the Annapolis road. This she did 



88 t\)t 4^\n ISricfe Ctjurcljrfi of S^arvlanD. 

not know, Ijut with true filial confidence said she was 
sure her father could tell him, if he would accompany 
her to the house, which stood a little way from the 
road. He gladly accepted the invitation, and found 
Henry Hill, a veteran fox-hunter as enthusiastic in 
the sport as himself. Hill insisted upon Caleb's re- 
maining his guest for the night, in order to see how 
the hunt was conducted in that part of Anne Arundel 
County. After this, it was remarked that every fox 
his own hounds started up found its way into Anne 
Arundel, and the game he finally brought home was 
not the wily animal of his nominal pursuit, but a 
" Dear," — if the pun may be pardoned, — named Pris- 
cilla, who proved herself to be an admirable house- 
wife. At Belmont stands the house he built for her 
in 1738. It is still occupied by their descendants, and 
near by is their family burying-ground. 

Caleb's eldest daughter, Rebecca, married Captain 
Charles Ridgely of Hampton, a planter of Baltimore 
County, and Priscilla, the youngest, married Charles 
Ridgely Carnan, the Captain's nephew, and the heir to 
his name and estate, as he had no children. The old 
couple had doubtless arranged this match in accord- 
ance with the custom in most well-regulated families 
of that day. 

Captain Ridgely's will was law. He decreed that 
Charles and Priscilla should have boy children, that 
the descent of the estate might be through male heirs. 
When Priscilla, at the birth of her second child, was 



COluaro SDorscv, tljc mntsit Jtatover. 89 

asked whether a messenger sliould not be despatched 
across country with tlie news to her niotlier, she 
rephed sadly, "No; for it is only a girl." Nine girls, 
it was this good lady's fortune to have, luit she also 
had three boys, and the })resent Kidgelys of Hamp- 
ton trace their descent througli the second son. 

Captain Ridgely was quite a character, and Ave shall 
have occasion to relate other anecdotes concerning him 
when we take up the old churches of Baltimore County. 

Edward Dorsey, the brother of Caleb, was called the 
" honest lawyer," a term not without its meaning in a 
day when lawyers had a bad name. 

George Alsop, writing from Maryland, says: "Here, 
if a lawyer had nothing else to detain him but his bawl- 
ing, he might button up his chaps, and burn his buckram 
bag, or hang it on a pin till its antiquity had eaten it 
up, so contrary to the genius of the people, if not to 
the quiet government of the Province, is the turbulent 
spirit of contumacious and vexatious law with its quirks 
and evasions." 

Another hit at the law is found in some verses by 
Ebenezer Cook, written in 1708, entitled "The Sot- 
weed Factor; or, A Voyage to Maryland." Having 
entered into a contract for the sale of five hundred 
pounds of tobacco with a Quaker, " a godly knave, 
who neither swore nor kept his word, but cheated in 
the fear of God," he afterwards considered himself 
swindled, and thus continues : — 



'^'' »'-^'"y 



90 t\)t (i^lD IBricfe Ct)urcljes; of ^par^'lanO. 

Resolved to plague the holy brother, 

I set one rogue to catch another ; 

To try the cause then fully bent, 

Up to Annapolis I went ; 

A city situate on a plain, 

Where scarce a house will keep out rain. 

St. Mary's once was in repute ; 
Now here the judges try their suit. 
And lawyers twice a year dispute, 
As oft the bench most gravely meet. 
Some to get drunk, and some to eat 
A swinging share of country treat. 
But as for justice, right or wrong, 
Not one among the numerous throng 
Knows what is meant, or has the heart 
To vindicate a stranger's part. 
The biassed court without delay 
Adjudged my debt in country pay ; 
In pipe staves, corn, and flesh of boar, 
Rare cargo for the English shore. 

It seems that juries in that day were also less 
g-overned by a sense of moral responsibility than 
by personal considerations, as is shown in the follow- 
ing anecdote about Captain Ridg-ely's brother : ^ John 
Kidgely, the son of a wealthy land and furnace owner, 
and closely connected with the Dorseys, was tried in 
Howard County for the murder of an Irishman, who 
had been shot while trespassing on his place, but he 
was acquitted. One of tlie jurors, upon being asked 

^ Harris' and IMcHenry's Reports mention an indictment for murder against 
Charles Piidgely, 1785. Jolin died in 1772, leaving a son Charles. Tradition 
and fact have to be reconciled as best the}- may. 



€iuffn Caroline pariglj. 91 

how they came to let him off, answered, " Why, surely, 
you don't think a jury of gentlemen would hang- a 

good fellow like John Ridgely for shooting a d 

Irishman ! " 

This trial took place in what is now known as 
Howard Count}^, a territory taken from the counties 
of Anne Arundel and Baltimore. 

An old church associated with the names of Dorse}^, 
Ridgely, Hammond, Worthington, Griffith, and Howard, 
and belonging to Queen Caroline Parish, is still stand- 
ing there. It has a handsome communion service, 
dating from 1748, and a Bible presented by Commis- 
sary Henderson, who was sent over to report on the 
state of the church in Maryland. The earliest entry 
on the parish register was made in 1711. 

One has occasionally the g-ood fortune to stumble 
on old letters written in those days. In one of these, 
written by a young merchant of Baltimore town to his 
old uncle in London, is found the following allusion 
to the Dorseys of Elkridge : — 

Mr. John Dorsey desires that I recommend yonr pay of his 
son's draft for £50. He has six hogsheads in Spencer [Captain 
Spencer's ship], and you will be right to pay it, as great umbrage 
to that family would he given otherwise. 

Ely Dorsey desired that I would write that Robert Izard's 
draft for ,£10 and Benj. Brown's for £9 be paid, which pray do. 
. . . Captain Spencer has behaved very agreeable to people here, 
and I desire you will continue him constant to this river (the 
Patapsco). 

Elv Dorsev and the old man are verv serviceable to vou, and 



riF W ' 



92 ti)t #ID llBritfe €\)im\)t$ of iipar^lauD, 

you must be very careful to oblige them. In short, they are very 
poiverful among the people. 

The writer continues, — 

The crops in Baltimore and at Elk Ridge are very good, 
South River and Severn but indifferent ; Patuxent, ditto ; East- 
ern Shore very poor. 

Elkridge Landing, at the head of navigation on the 
Patapsco, was once the rival of Baltimore. The old 
" rolling road," down which were drawn hogsheads of 
tobacco, fastened to shafts contrived so as to allow 
the hogsheads to turn like wheels on their axles, still 
goes by that name. It was connected by other roads 
to the head-waters of the principal settlements of Bal- 
timore County, and when incoming ships had no cargo 
for the wharves of the latter, the settlers' tobacco was 
sent to Elkridge to be shipped to foreign ports. 

But of the ancient commercial centres we shall speak 
in another chapter. 



Cljapter vii. 

BALTIMORE COUNTY. — ANECDOTES. — DANIEL DULANY. 

CAPT. CHARLES RIDGELY. — THE REV. JOHN COLf]- 

MAN. — REDEMPTIONERS AND CONVICTS. 

JEREMIAH EATON'S BEQUEST.— THE 

MANOR CHURCH. — WEDDINGS 

IN "YE OLDEN TIME." 

MARRIAGE PORTIONS. 



^ 



VII. 




lALTIMORE, like Rome, is built on many 
hills, and, like Rome, it had its Romulus, 
that title having- been conferred on a 
physician named Stevenson, who, in the 
third decade of the eighteenth century, 
first drew attention to its extraordinary commercial 
advantages, and laid the corner-stone of its prosperity 
by his foresight and enterprise. And as Rome is more 
conspicuous in history than the neighboring ruins of 
Veii, and the Roman people than the primitive Etrus- 
cans, so Baltimore and its citizens are better known 
than Bushtown and the early settlers along- the banks 
of the Gunpowder and the Patapsco Rivers; but just 
as an interesting and long-forgotten civilization prior 
to that of Rome has been revealed by excavations in 
Etruria, and by the opening of its tombs, so the be- 
ginning of Maryland's commerce, and the earliest indi- 
cations of its religious life are to be found by exploring 
the regions traversed by the time-honored water-ways 
that flow by the feeding-grounds of the blue-Avinged 
teal, the red head, and the canvas-back. 

In the year 1683, half a century after Lord Balti- 
more, by his favorable " conditions of plantation," had 



96 €\)t <0lD 15ricfe €\)uxt\)t$ of tl9ar\?lanD. 

tempted his first colony to sow the seed of civiUza- 
tion in this wild but fertile country, Baltimore County 
extended north to the Pennsylvania border, and east 
to the Susquehanna River and the head waters of the 
bay, while its western limits were lost in a wilderness 
of unsettled lands. Roads were scarce in those days, 
and rivers were the threads upon which the beads of 
settlement Avere strung. The " conditions of planta- 
tion," by which the land allowed to each settler was 
in proportion to the number of persons he brought 
with him, were found no longer necessary, and in 
1683 they ceased to operate. After that, land was 
acqiured by purchase, and ports of trade were estab- 
lished, so that commerce became a factor in the pros- 
perity of the people. Until then, landholders had 
shipped their own and their dependents' grain and 
tobacco from private wharves, receiving the luxuries 
of life in return, which their correspondents in Eng- 
land were instructed to send, as opportunity offered. 

The establishment of these " ports of entry," there- 
fore, marks a stage in the development of the province. 
They were indeed doors by which adventurers of every 
description could enter for gain. Many a captain, en- 
gaged in the merchant service, invested his little savings 
in the improvement of toAvn lots, — notably those at 
Joppa, on the Gunpowder, noAv covered by a Avheat 
field, — or in the purchase of adjoining tracts which be- 
came valuable as settlement extended. Forsaking: the 
precarious calling of the sea for the more lucrative posi- 



2r>anid SDulan^* 97 

tion of planter or merchant, his prosperity became the 
signboard wliicli directed others to these hospitable 
shores, where not only a competency, but even wealth, 
could be so easily attained. Even the indentured ser- 
vant, whose master allowed him a bit of cleared ground, 
employed his leisure hours in jdanting tobacco, which 
enabled him to add his hogshead to the cargo shipped 
for England ; freight which, like Whittington's cat, be- 
came the foundation of a fortune. 

The motto " To live and let live " was quite as 
applicable to the Marylander of those days as the bet- 
ter known motto of the Lords Baltimore, " Manly deeds 
and womanly words." Many an anecdote is preserved, 
proving the kindness of masters to their mdentured 
servants. One of these will be a sufficient example. 
A youtli named Daniel Dulany was discovered one day 
poring over a Latin grammar by his master, Walter 
Smith, a lawyer of Anne Arundel County, who, finding 
him to be a man of some education, promoted him from 
a menial position to a place in his office, and there made 
of him a lawyer. To prove that Dulany attained suc- 
cess in the profession, it is only necessary to state 
that he took up five thousand acres of land in Balti- 
more County in Avhat was then known as the "Valley 
of Jehoshaphat," but is now called '^Dulany's Valley." 

The " oldest inhabitant," though not always an in- 
fallible guide on the road to fact, is nevertheless a 
very entertaining chronicler. To this time-honored per- 
sonage the present writer is indebted for several anec- 

7 



98 ^be <i^lD Wtitk Cljurcljcsf of 3^art!lanD. 

dotes transmitted to him by liis gTandmother, tlie wife 
of Parson Coleman, rector, at different times, of each of 
the oldest churches now standing- in Baltimore County. 
This lady, before her marriage, when she was Pleasance 
Goodwin, passed much of her time with her uncle, 
Captain Charles Ridgely, and his wife, Rebecca, at 
their home, overlooking* Dulany's Valley. As the coun- 
trymen often brought their grain from a distance to 
Ridgely's mill, he frequently invited them to his home, 
where the early evening" meal awaited them. 

On one of these occasions, when they were all 
seated at table, he asked his rustic friend what he 
would have to eat. " Mush," was the laconic reply. 
'^ Then help yourself," said the Captain, with a wave 
of the hand toward the capacious dish of mush set 
before him, with the large-bowled, long'-handled silver 
spoon wherewith to serve it. The guest, taking the 
invitation literally, proceeded to feed himself from the 
dish with the spoon, which severely tested the capa- 
city of his mouth. Rebecca, the prim hostess, cast a 
horrified glance at her husband, while the young peo- 
ple tittered ; but the Captain, frowning upon the rude- 
ness of his nieces, rather than upon tlie ignorance of 
his guest, tried to turn the conversation into channels 
calculated to divert attention and to keep Rusticus 
from a mortifying sense of his blunder. 

Supper, in those days, was an informal meal, 
like breakfast in modern English country houses, 
where servants are often dispensed with. Of these, 



Captain Cljarlrs HiDgrl^. 99 

there was no lack in Captain Ridj^ely's lioiiseliold, 
for the number of his shives was proverbiah He did 
not even know them all by siglit, as the following- 
anecdote proves : One day, while ridino- along- the 
road, he met a rag-ged negro, and asked him to whom 
he belonged. '' To Cap'n Ridgely, sar," answered the 
darky, grinning from ear to ear, and pulling his 
forelock as if it were a bell-rope sunnnoning his wits 
to the door of his brain. 

" Tell the overseer that Captain Ridgely wishes to 
see him at once." With another a'rin, another tu"-, 
and a '' Yes, marsa," the slave shot ofP on his errand. 
When the overseer arrived, he was severely berated 
for not keeping his slaves better clothed, as means 
were provided for him to do. Another story is 
told of the Captain in reference to his teamster, a 
white slave named Martin, who, for some misde- 
meanor, was made to wear an iron collar. Twice 
had he mana.g-ed to get rid of it, wlien the Captain 
said that he would not have it put on again, if Martin 
would tell how he accomplished the feat. This he 
agreed to do, saying, " Well, I fastened one end of a 
chain to the back of the collar, and t' other end to 
the gate-post; then I fastened another chain to the 
front of the collar, and t' other end to my team. Then 
saying, ' Break neck or break collar,' I cracked my 
whip, and the mules pulled, and the collar broke." 
The Captain kept his promise, and as Martin's descend- 
ants now own land in Harford County, where Cap- 



loo t\)t «0lD liBitfk €\)\m\)ts of tlaivlant). 

tain Ridgely was a large proprietor, it may be possible 
that lie was so well pleased with the man's pluck that 
he gave him land w'hen his term of servitude expired. 

Convicts sold by the captain of the ship that brought 
them over w^ere not slaves for life, any more than the 
" Redemptioners," who merely worked out their passage 
money, and were often men of high character and good 
education. Among old bills of lading have been found 
mention of a certain number of convicts and a certain 
number of wigs. These niay have been donned to 
suit the character they Avished to personate, or to avoid 
recognition by a former witness of their transgres- 
sions. These convicts w^ere sometimes driven throuofh 
the country in gangs, to be sold to the planters. 
The agent having them in charge was called a " soul 
driver." 

An amusing story is told of an Irishman, who, being 
the last of such a gang, stopped at a wayside inn with 
his keeper, and rising early the next morning, closed a 
bargain wdth the landlord for the other, whom he rep- 
resented to be a good servant, though a most plausible 
" lyar," often assuming to be the master. Pocketing the 
money, the convict walked off, leaving the soul driver 
to swear at his cunninsr. 

Of these convicts, twenty thousand came to this coun- 
try before the Revolution, but they were by no means 
vile in all cases, at a time when religious and political 
offences were punished with banishment. 

In 1790, when Captain Ridgely was building "Hamp- 



t{)t Urti» 51olju Colcmaiu 101 

ton House," liis workmen quit work every day at four 
o'clock, for fear of the wolves that infested the way to 
Baltimore Town after dark. When the house was com- 
pleted, Mrs. Ridg-ely, who was a dcNout Methodist, 
wished to have a religious house-warming-. The Cnp- 
tain agreed, with the proviso that the Rev. John Cole- 
man, of the Episcopal church, should deliver the 
opening address, after which "she might have all the 
praying and shouting she pleased." 

The joint programme was carried out, with the addi- 
tion of a card party in an upper room, where steaming 
punch cheered the representatives of unregenerate man, 
while their better halves imbibed another kind of spirit- 
ual refreshment below. 

To the west of Dulany's Valley lies the great Lime- 
stone Basin, where the celebrated Beaver Dam ^Marble 
Quarries are to be found. With this region, and Avith 
Green Spring Valley beyond, have been associated 
from time immemorial the names of Cockey, wings, 
Yellott, Hutchins, Croxal, Buchanan, Stevenson, Merry- 
man, Cromwell, and Moale. Old Joshua Hutchins was 
a stanch friend of the Rev. John Coleman, and about 
the time of that "religious house-warming" he silenced 
some malicious whispers injurious to the parson's repu- 
tation, by threatening to cowhide the inventor. 

The mad pranks of youthful " Cockey-Dye-Owingses " 
are the subject of many tales. The bewitching damsels 
of this clan had many aspirants to their favor. One 
cavalier came mounted on a fine black charger, but 



102 ti)t (DID mkk €l)im\)t& of Staari^lanD. 

lie stayed too long at this lively mansion, and when 
at last he ordered his horse to the door, its coat had 
turned as white as whitewash could make it. The 
saddest part of the joke was that the work had been 
done by the charmer upon whom he had lavished most 
attention, and upon whom lie flattered himself he had 
made a favorable impression. 

On another occasion, one of the sisters threw her 
suitor's hat into the fire, and he retaliated by sending 
her bonnet after it. As a natural sequel, this Petruchio 
won his Katherine. 

Very different from this branch of the family were 
the Owings of Owings' Mills, Green Spring Valley, 
who attended St. Thomas' Church. Of Samuel, it is 
said that he was a gentleman who brought up his 
boys after the pattern of himself, teaching them to 
ride as soon as they could sit upon a horse, and to 
shoot as soon as they could haiidle a gun. The 
daughters were brought up by their motlier, Ruth, 
to be good housewives, and their home was the scene 
of many a festivity, when the brewing and the baking 
had been done by their fair hands. Samuel's sisters 
were married to Peter Hoffman, Dr. John Cromwell, 
Thomas Moale, Robert Moale, James Winchester, 
George Winchester, and Richard Cromwell, all names 
of local significance, some of which are to be found 
in St. Thomas' Graveyard. The Cockeys, living on 
the old place called Garrison, are descendants of 
Samuel and Ruth Owings, and retain the character- 
istics of the Owings race. 






^Ifrnntalj Caton'g )5caucst. 103 

The ports of entry in Baltimore County that phiyed 
the most important part in the growth of its connnerce 
were respectively on the Patapsco, near Humphrey's 
Creek, below the present city of Baltimore ; on the 
Clunpowtler, above some of the best-known (lucking- 
sliores of modern times ; on the Bush, where there was 
a court-house in 1684; and on Spesutia Creek, which, 
near the mouth of the Susquehanna, separated S})esutia 
Island from the mainland. Between the latter port 
and the Bush River settlement lay Stokely Manor, an 
estate of five hundred and fifty acres, which in 1675 
had been devised by Jeremiah Eaton to the first Prot- 
estant minister who should settle in the county, and 
to his successors. A church had been built there, and 
in 1683 the Rev. John Yeo — an Isaiah of the Eno-lish 

o 

Church, whose denunciations of the innnorality and 
impiety of the people of Maryland are recorded in a 
letter written by him to England in 1676 — bought 
land in the county, and became the minister, not only 
of this locality, known later as Spesutia, or St. George's 
Parish, but of Grunpowder and Patapsco Hundreds also. 
The port of entry on the Gunpowder, which had 
taken the name of Joppa, succeeded Bush as the county 
seat sometime between the years 1712 and 1724, prob- 
ably before 1719, when we find Stokely Manor given 
by Act of Assembly to the parish of St. John's, the 
church of Gunpowder Hundred in the promising town 
of Joppa. The establishment of the Church of Eng- 
land had, meantime, been accomplished, and vestrymen 



104 ti)t 0[n ISiick Cl)uifl)f0 of ^paiiHauD. 

were among the important officers of tlie State. Per- 
sons of respectability of any denomination could per- 
form tlie coveted duty of making others walk straight, 
so long as they were duly elected, and had subscribed to 
the oaths required. Most Protestant sects could do this 
with a good conscience, and as vestr^^men, tliey were 
enabled to preserve an equilibrhini in the form of wor- 
ship forced upon them, and thus to guard against its 
tottering into the abyss of priestcraft and papacy, of 
which they lived in perpetual dread. As there were 
no Lords Bishops to fear on this side of the water, the 
mixed Protestant body, which composed three-fourths of 
the whole population, came back without much struggle 
to the church of their fathers. It is true that when an 
unworthy rector was forced upon them, the poll-tax of 
forty pounds of tobacco levied for his support was hard 
to collect, but in Baltimore County there were few such 
men, and in the history of the two old brick churches 
which we are about to introduce to the reader as cen- 
tres around which revolved the life of the people, it 
is noteworthy that the proverbial "monster of deprav- 
ity " was conspicuously absent. These Uyo churches 
are the oldest representatives existing of the original 
parishes of St. John's and St. Paul's lying in Gunpowder 
and Patapsco Hundreds, and are known as St. James' 
and St. Thomas'. 

Under date of Aug. 7tli, 1850, we find that the vestry 
of St. John's Parish took into consideration the erection 
of a "Chapel of Ease" in the forks of the Gunpowder, 



moxt\)it& of ^t. 3f,o!)u'0 |Dnnsl)» 105 

and appointed the Rev. H. Deans, the rector, and 
Walter Tolley, a vestryman, to sohcit subscriptions 
for the purpose. As these proved insufficient, the 
General Assembly passed an act empowering the jus- 
tices of the county to assess and levy three hundred 
pounds on the inhabitants of St. John's Parish for 
the purchase of one acre of land in the forks of 
the Gunpowder, upon which to build a Chapel of Kase- 
The names of these vestrymen were Nicholas Ruxton 
Gay, John Hughes, John Merryman, and Thomas Git- 
tings, whose descendants would find little difficulty in 
being admitted into the many societies now existing 
throuo-hout the countrv for the establishment of an 
aristocracy. These plain, unassuming, yet hospitable 
worthies, however, drew no visible line between the 
countryman from the rolling uplands, who brought his 
corn or wheat either in trade or to be ground at the mill 
of his wealthier neighbor, and the distinguished guest 
from the old country, who marvelled at and admired, 
but seldom criticised, the strange ways of this vigorous 
young country. Much has been said of the old Cava- 
liers of Maryland, but very little of the Puritans, who 
settled in the province as early as 1649, when Vir- 
ginia drove them beyond her border. In 1753, how- 
ever, when St. James' w\as built, there was no longer 
either Cavalier or Puritan in the province, but their 
characteristics were blended in a homogeneous people, 
who, by the time we were ready to become an inde- 
pendent nation, spoke the mother tongue with a uni- 



^^ — »— - — " ■ w, — A»^ 



106 



t\)t <DlD ^rich CljurclKs; of ^ai:\?lanD. 



formity of accent and a softness and purity of expression 
not to be found among the rural inhabitants of Enghind, 
where each shire liad a dialect of its own. William 
Edd^s, Collector of Customs at Annapolis when the 
Revolution first broke out, comments upon this surpris- 
ino" fact. 

Tlie records of the Chapel of St. James give us an 
insight into the status of office-holders at that day, for 




St. James', or the Manor Chuhch. 



we find that in 17G9 Daniel Chamier, county sheriff, 
was also sexton of tlie churcli ; the man tlms conferring 
honor on the office, rather tlian tlie office on tlie man, — 
a lesson that might be taught witli good effect to-day. 

The Chapel of St. James was erected on a corner of 
what is still called " My Lady's Manor," and is known 



t\)t span or Cljurcl). 107 

as tlie ''Manor Church." It stands on a liill overlooking 
a beautiful country which is one of the great agricul- 
tural districts of the count}'. The ancient high-road to 
Pennsylvania, called the old York Road, passes through 
this region, — a significant fact in the history of the 
early settlers, a sturdy class of English yoenianr}', many 
of whom emigrated first to Pennsylvania, hut being 
attracted by the greater fertility of IMaryland, crossed 
the border and took up farms along the head waters 
of the Gunpowder and the Bush. In many cases the 
ponderous, white-topped Conestoga wagons were used 
by these emigrants, — wagons which in a modified form 
are still to be seen slowly wending their way along the 
limestone high-road above Towson, the present county 
town. With their blue bodies, red running-gear, and 
white hoods gathered by a cord in tlie back, they are 
quite as picturesque as the canvas-covered and parti- 
colored roAv-boats that glide along the shining waters of 
Lake Como under an "Italian sky," — a sky in reality 
no more beautiful than the skies of Maryland. Even as 
late as the beginning of the [)resent century, carriages 
were little used by the rural population. Everybody 
rode on horseback, unless too feeble or infirm to do so, 
when carts, unadorned by the prefix " T " or " Dog," 
came into play ; and even farm-wagons were often used 
to take their owners to church on Sunday. 

One family, indeed, was known to arrive at St. James' 
in a carriage, — an odd vehicle bought from a Quaker, 
who had it made witli the door in the rear, for escape 



108 ti}t il^lo 15nck Cl)urcljc0 of liiparvHanD. 

in case of accident. The rector, Rev. Mr. Coleman, had 
a carriage also ; for lie had to drive twelve miles to 
church from his home in Harford, the Bushtown of 
" lang syne." 

Tliis old church is a striking object on the hill-top, 
and still retains its venerable appearance, in spite of 
later additions and preservative paint. Less than ten 
years after its erection it had to be enlarged to accom- 
modate the rapidly increasing population ; for the Estab- 
lished Church was officially the only one to welcome 
the emigrants, no matter to what denomination they 
had belonged. The first addition represents the nave, 
and the original structure the transept. The tower over 
the vestibule is modern, although built of the brick 
taken from the old vestry-house, — a building of great 
importance in a day when it served as court-room for 
the vestry, and refectory for the congregation coming 
from a distance. The present vestry-room is in the 
apsidal chancel of the original building, opening into 
the church by a doorway in the east transept. The 
outline of the chancel arch is to be distinguished by a 
crack in the plaster over the doorway, whicli is hidden 
by a curtain. An old English custom prevails in the 
church by which the man aspiring to matrimony has 
to pass through the vestry-room on his way to the 
chancel. Until very lately, weddings at St. James' had 
a spice of adventure about them from the fact that the 
impatient bridegroom was obliged to climb through one 
of the deep embrasured windows of the original chancel 



MfDDins0 in '*^e Mntn tinu.'' 109 

before issuing from the vestry-room to clciiin his bride, 
thereby running the risk of appearing before the expec- 
tant o'uests and at the side of the immaculate fair one 
with soiled knees and torn raiment. The present in- 
cumbent of St. James', however, has mercifully pro- 
vided against this contingency by having a door sub- 
stituted for one of the windows, and steps added, by 
wliich the usually nervous swain may enter witliout 
loss of dignity. In olden times the marriage ceremony 
was invariably performed at home. The guests assem- 
bled early in tlie evening to partake of tea and refresh- 
ments, and after the knot was tied and congratulations 
offered, dancing and cards amused the company till a late 
hour, when they were regaled with an elegant supper, 
followed by the cheerful glass and the convivial song. 

In this localit}', lu)wever, where the people took their 
Christian names from the Bible, and their ideas from the 
Puritans, there was a slight variation in the program. 
After the marriage ceremou}^, the bridal party was often 
conveyed in a farm wagon, garlanded with flowers or 
evergreens, to the house of the nearest relative, where, 
although cards and dancing were i)rohibited, the lios- 
]:>itable board groaned beneath tlie weight of good 
things, and cider or other liome-made beverages flowed 
freely. At a late hour tlie happy pair were escorted to 
their new home, and the rest of the party found hos- 
pitality with their entertainers for the night. The wed- 
ding festivities often lasted several days, during which 
the farm wagon was employed to convey the bridal 



110 tl)t Mn Wtick €\)im\)ts of sparv'lanu, 

party from place to place ; for not until every one had 
entertained them were the bride and groom allowed to 
settle down, the man to the work of his farm, the woman 
to that of her household. 

In most houses there was a large room where a loom 
was set up. The wool, after being carded at the nearest 
fulling mill, — several of which are still standing, — was 
distributed, in what looked like thick loose lengths of 
rope, to the laborers' wives, who took it to their cabins 
to spin ; after which the young women of the house- 
hold wove it on a warp of linen or cotton thread. Negro 
labor in tliis locality was confined to the fields, and 
even then principally to large estates ; for the thrifty 
yeoman settlers had large families, who were not allowed 
to sit with folded hands, thus fulfilling the prophecy of 
a quaint old writer named Hammond, who in 1656 pub- 
lished a pampldet upon Maryland and Virginia, in which 
he says, '' Cliildren increase and thrive so well tliere, 
that they will sufficiently supply the place of servants, 
and in a small time become a nation sufficient to people 
the country." Further evidence of the large families of 
tliat time is found in the old graveyard of St. James'. 
One stone records the fact that " Kezia, wife of Isaac 
Hooj^er," was the mother of '^ Seven sons and three 
daughters," the number of sons being written with a 
capital S, while that of the daughters appears with a very 
small t, — in token, perhaps, of the estimate placed upon 
the two sexes by this Maryland Jol). We have reason 
to hope that he, like Job, " gave them inheritance among 



a^arriagc portions. Ill 

their brethren ; " for the chronicle just quoted says : 
" P'ew there iire but are able to g-ive portions with their 
daughters, more or less, according to their abilities, so 
that many coming out of England have raised tliem- 
selves good fortunes there, by matching maidens born 
in the country," — a lucky endowment for these maidens, 
whose portraits show that they were not favored with 
tlie gift of beauty. In later years this order has been 
reversed, for many a damsel who could only say, "My 
face is my fortune," has been borne away from home- 
spun Maryland by the lords of the " almighty dollar." 

Two tombstones in St. James' churchyard bear the 
name of Mather, — so distinguished in the early history 
of New England. "John Mather" departed this life 
"October ye 2nd, 1775/' " Elizabetli," his wife, fol- 
lowed him, ''June ye 3rd, 177G," — thus just missing 
the privilege of becoming American citizens. John is 
made to say on his stone : — 

My pilgrimage I run apace 

My resting place is here : 

This stone was got to keep the spot, 

Least man should dig too near. 

Elizabeth's more s])iritual nature claims a higher des- 
tiny ; not content with the mere rest in the grave, she 
says : — 

A resurrection with the just 

I hope for, though I sleep in dust. 



Alt . .Jt*" •* 



112 t\)c <0lD Brick Ctjurcljcs; of iS^arviauD, 

The tombstones of St. James' form an interesting link 
with heroic times, recording- the virtues of many who 
fought for their country's independence, or hiter for 
her defence, when Baltimore was threatened with British 
invasion in 1814. These brave men were also true 
gentlemen, characterized by dignity and simplicity of 
manner, and great integrity of character. Their good 
hearts and sound heads made them the advisers and 
confidants of their poorer neighbors, and they were 
often the arbiters of judicial questions. The descend- 
ants of these men retain in many instances their 
Biblical names and their most striking characteristics, 
which have been strengthened by inheritance and by 
honored tradition. Some of them own still the broad 
acres of their ancestors, renting them on shares, from 
which they derive little profit ; but the population of 
these localities is naturally sparse, not only from the 
large proprietorship of individuals, but from the fact 
that patriarchal ideas are inconsistent with modern 
progress, and the younger generation wish to build 
their own fortunes in their own way, seeking for this 
purpose the centres of trade and education If it be 
true that population regulates the power and pros- 
perity of the State, Ave must admit that the prosperit}' 
of this portion of it is on the wane. 



Cljaptcr VIII. 

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Continued. - OLDTON'S GARRISON. 
ST. THOMAS' OR (xARRISON FOREST CHURCH. -THE 
HOWARDS. -THE REV. THOMAS CRADOClv 
SCHOOLMASTERS IN "YE OLDEN TIME." 
A TAX ON BACHELORS. — THE REV. 
DR. COKE AND THE METHODISTS. 
ST. THOMAS' CHURCHYARD.— A 
LIST OF THE ORIGINAL PAR- 
ISHES ON THE WESTERN 
SHORE OF THE 
CHESAPEAKE. 



$ 



VIII. 




T is hard to decide whether " Garrison 
Forest Chiircli " — also known as St. 
Thomas', which stands about fourteen 
miles west of St. James' — be more in- 
teresting from the historical associations 
which gave it its name, or from the many traditions 
preserved b}' the " oldest inhabitant." We shall there- 
fore blend history and anecdote in this narrative. 

An order was given in 1G92 by his Majesty's Council 
for the erection of three forts on the frontier, — one to 
be in Baltimore County ; and there is little doul)t that 
one was within a few miles of the site of the church. 
This measure of defence was taken in consequence of 
occasional trouble with the Indians, and the growing 
apprehension of more general hostilities. 

One case on record is that of an Englishman named 
Enoch, who, while at work in the field, was attacked by 
the brother of an Indian whom he had killed in some 
altercation. The settler's wife rushed to the rescue, and 
proved herself a champion so sturdy that the Indian fell 
wnth a broken skull. She then, with equal skill, bound 
up his wounds, and bade him depart in peace ; but the 
following day he returned with another Indian, and. 



116 t\)t O^lD 115ricfe Ct)nrfl)f0 of iliar^lanD. 

eluding the brave woman, they killed the man and 
made their escape. They were known by the names 
''Annacohil," or ''White Indian," and " Sonan," called 
in English, " James," and belonged to the tribe of Nanti- 
cokes, whose "emperor, " on being summoned to deliver 
them up to justice, disclaimed all knowledge of their 
hiding-place. They were reported to be at Deer Creek, 
in the northeastern part of the county, waiting for the 
tree bark to peel, in order to make canoes by which to 
escape across the Susquehanna to the Hostile Tribes. 
The Nanticokes, Piscataways, and Coptank Indians 
were friendly to the English, and had their " Reserva- 
tions " in Maryland. They sent each year to the court 
of St. James two bows and arrows as a tribute of ^ood 
will to the Kino-. 

Each fort was to be manned by a captain, nine sol- 
diers, and four Indians, who were required to hunt and 
fish in order to supply the garrison with food. The 
emperor of each tribe was to furnish a certain quota. 
The great number of stone arrowheads, slender and 
jagged, which are still found throughout this region, 
shows that here were their huntinof-aTounds. Owincr to 
some confusion arising from the government passing out 
of the hands of the Proprietary into those of William 
and Mary, there is a break in the "Journal of Council 
Proceedings," and it is not known at what time the 
order for the erection of the forts was carried out, though 
a conjecture is afforded by the following receipt given 
by Captain John Thomas : — 



(©loton's Harrison. 117 

August 20lh, ir)'J4. 

Received of Nicholas Greenbcrry by order of his Excellency 
for the use of the rangers of Baltimore County, when they shall 
be required to range out on public service for the better dis- 
covery of any ai)pr()aching enemy nudving ini'oads into the 
Province of Maryhmd, which is as follows, viz — 2 Holy Bibles, 
2 l)ooks of the whole duty of man, 2 books of Catechism, and 
one book with a brief discourse concerning the worshipping 
of God ; also one lanthorn, 1 brass compass, one perspective 
glass. All which instruments are to be converted to the proper 
usages as aforesaid, I say reed, the day and year abovesaid 
pr me, John Thomas. 

In 1696 Joliu Oldton was commander of the rangers 
of Baltimore County, and lie handed in at that time an 
account of the roads made by liis rangers " back of the 
inhabitants." They extended " N. E. from the Gar- 
rison to the first cabbin 15 miles, and N. E. to the 
second cabbin 15 miles, or thereabouts, thence 10 miles 
furtlier on the same course to another cabbin on the 
North side of Deer Creek ; likewise from the Garrison to 
a cabbin between Jadwin's Falls and the main falls of 
the Patapsco, a west course 10 miles, etc." Tins account 
shows plainly where the garrison was situated. Some 
enthusiastic members of the Baltimore Historical Society 
have gone so far as to point out the fort itself on a 
part of an estate called from time immemorial " Garri- 
son." It is now used as a farm building, and wiseacres 
among the farmers say that it cannot be the old fort 
because the stones are put together with mortar instead 
of clay, which at that time was always used ; and, more- 



118 tlje Mn y&tkk Cljurcljrs of a^arvlaui). 

over, tliey declare that the openings in the wall, which 
to the eye of historical research mean places for cannon, 
are simply avenues of light and ventilation employed by 
their grandfathers in similar structures before the intro- 
duction of window-sashes. But there is no disputing 
the fact that there was a fort on the estate of Garrison, 
and a settlement near by, which, in 1741, had assumed 
such proportions that the Rev. Benedict Bourdillon of 
the town parish of St. Paul's proposed to his vestrymen 
to raise by subscription a fund for the erection of a 
Chapel of Ease for the " forest inhabitants." 

The list of subscribers is headed by the Rev. Bene- 
dict himself, who contributed more tobacco than all 
the others put together. It includes also such names 
as William Hammond, who in 1728 had been appointed 
one of the commissioners to lay out Baltimore town ; 
Charles Ridgely, one of his Majesty's justices ; Darby 
Lux, after whom a street was named ; and the Gists, who 
were prominent both in town and county aifairs. 

Among the tombstones surrounding the church are 
several bearing the names of men associated with the 
early history of Baltimore, — such as Walker, Moale, 
North, Philpot, and Gist ; and the records of St. Thomas' 
Parish furnish other names which are perpetuated to 
the third and fourth generation in the families of Crad- 
ock, Gill, Yellott, Owings, Cockey, Carroll, and Howard. 
The last two names have more than local celebrity, 
for Charles Carroll was one of the framers of the 
Constitution, and John Eager Howard was a hero of 



t\)t fi^oiuartjs;, 119 

tlie Revolution whose gallantry decided the fortunes of 
the day at the battle of Cowpens. His father, Cor- 
nelius Howard, was one of the first churchwardens, and 
John himself, while quite a young man, acted as vestry- 
man. His brother George, who had been educated at 
tlie Rev. Thomas Cradock's school, ^\as that divine's 
amanuensis in his later years. Another brother, Cor- 
nelius, was a stanch Methodist, an uncompromising- 
Tory, and the hero of a romance. He had been crossed 
in hopeless love, and died unmarried, leaving- a request 
tliat a certain lock of hair to be found among- his 
treasures should be buried with him. His tombstone, 
with that of his father, engraved with the Howard coat- 
of-arms, is still to be seen on the old home place, Avliich 
has passed into other hands. 

The fact that the landed gentry had their family bury- 
grounds on their own estates explains why so many 
names recorded in the parish register are not found in 
the churchyard ; but their descendants inherit their love 
for the old church, and leaving the parent parish of St. 
Pjud's in tlie hot and noisy town, they make St. Tliomas' 
their " Chapel of Ease" for the summer months, and 
seek in many instances a final resting-place beneath the 
royal oaks of its old graveyard. 

The first vestrymen of tlie church of St. Thomas, 
which on the death of Rev. Benedict Bourdillon in 
1745 became the parochial church of a new parish, 
were Nathaniel Stinchcomb, John Gill, William Cockey, 
Joshua Owings, and George Ashman ; and the first 



120 ^t)e (Dlo llBricfe €l)mt\)t& of ^arrlauD. 

rector was the Rev. Thomas Cradock, lately arrived 
from England. This gentleman is in every way a 
striking figure on the local background. Born at Wol- 
verham in Bedfordshire in 1718, educated by the Duke 
of Bedford with his own son at Cambridge, having 
within his reach an English bishopric, he apparently 
destroyed his brilliant pros23ects, and proved himself an 
ingrate to his patron, by falling in love with his daugh- 
ter; but being an honorable man, and feeling that in 
separation from her there might be safety for both, he 
represented the case to the duke, and prevailed on him 
to use his influence with Lord Baltimore to obtain for 
him a parish in Maryland. This accomplished, he bade 
farewell to his friends, and Avas rowed off to the vessel 
in which he was to sail for America. Upon entering his 
cabin he found it occupied by a shrouded figure, who, to 
his dismay, proved to be tlie duke's daughter. Slie 
implored him to take her with him, but this he sternly 
refused to do, reproaching her for thus risking her good 
name ; then, leading her, under the cover of darkness, to 
the row-boat, he sent her back to land. 

In 1746, how^ever, he consoled himself with a more 
suitable wife, namely, Catherine, daughter of Jolm Ris- 
teau, a Huguenot driven from France by the revocation 
of tlie Edict of Nantes, and for some time sheriff of Balti- 
more County. So well pleased was this gentleman with 
his daughter's choice that he presented her with a farm 
called Trentham, situated about ten miles from Baltimore. 
This farm is still in the possession of the Cradock family, 



^ctioolmastfrs in *'^e »2^lDni tiint*" 121 

of which each g-eneration has furnished vestrymen or 
churchwardens to the church of St. Thomas. Soon 
after his marriage the Rev. Thomas Cradock advertised 
in the ''Maryland Gazette" for young gentlemen, to 
whom he offered board and lodging, and tuition in Latin 
and Greek, for twenty pounds a year in advance. He 
was patronized by such families as the Lees of St. 
Mary's, the Barnes of diaries', the Spriggs and the 
Bowies of Prince George's, the Dulanys of Anne 
Arundel, and the Joneses and Howards of Baltimore 
County. Tiie value of such a scliool can now hardly be 
estimated. Free schools had been established in each 
count}^ by Act of Assembly in 1723, but distances were 
too great for many to benefit by them. The well-to-do 
planters^ as a rule, were dependent for their children's 
instruction upon the uncertain acquirements of inden- 
tured servants, who sold their services for a certain 
number of years to pay their passage over from England; 
and just as it was the custom for a large land-holder to 
have his blacksmith shop, his mill and his store, so also 
had he his log school-house, presided over by a mas- 
ter who made up for his own ignorance by " thumping 
'knowledge into his pupils." As late as the year 1774, 
advertisements of the following kind are to be found 
in the "Maryland Gazette": — 

To be sold, a schoolmaster, an indented servant, wlio has two 
years to serve. N. B. — He is sold for no fault, any more than 
we have done with him. He can learn bookkeepinc^, and is an 
excellent good scholar. 



122 t\)t Mn 513nck Cl)urcl)r0 of ^arvlanD. 

That lie was a good teacher, is not stated. The Rev. 
Thomas Cradock, however, was distiiig-uished alike for 
liis literary attainments and his exalted moral qualities. 
In 1753, he published a version of the Psalms, trans- 
lated from the Hebrew original into uniform heroic 
verse. He was a great sufferer during his latter years, 
and had to dictate his sermons to an amanuensis. When 
deprived of the use of all his limbs, he was wheeled 
to the church, and up the brick aisle to perform 
his religious duties ; and he died at his post, May, 
1770. 

He could have no higher eulogy than the following 
obituary written by a friend in London : — 

He was universally allowed to be a sincere Christian, a 
polished scholar, an elegant and persuasive preacher, a tender 
parent, and an affectionate husband ; with his piety, charity, 
benevolence, and hospitality, he had the rare felicity of rendering 
himself acceptable to those of a different communion. 

Very different in this last respect was his successor, 
the Rev. Edministon, who estranged many of his con- 
gregation by his hostility to Methodism, which about 
that time had obtained a foothold in the county. That 
one of the first vestrymen of St. Thomas' was among 
the disaffected, is shown in the following extract from 
the diary of the Rev. F. Asbury, dated Nov. 24th, 
1772: — 

Rode twenty miles to my old friend Joshua Owings', the 
forest home of the Methodists, and found a very agreeable 



t\)t Kct3, sr>r. Cohc auD ti)t ijpftljoDists. 123 

family. Behold an Israelite indeed ! Ue was once a serious 
churchman, and sought for the truth, and now God has revealed 
it to him. 

The Methodists at this time were only a party in the 
Church of England. It was not till 17S4, that the Kev. 
Dr. Coke, having" come over from England, convened 
the Methodist preachers in Baltimore to organize into 
a separate church. Before that time these preachers 
could neither baptize, nor administer the Holy Com- 
munion, unless they had taken orders in the Church of 
England, and devout Metliodists still turned to the 
Church for these offices. In fact, to this ver}' day there 
are Methodists wlio look upon the Episcopal Church as 
the one for great occasions, A marriage recently took 
place in the manager's house on a large estate within 
twelve miles of St. Thomas', and was spoken of in tlie 
county paper as having been performed after the " Eng- 
lish form ;" for though the parties belong to a class or 
clan which is principally Methodist, they do not wish 
to sever all connection witli the old stock who lie buried 
around the parisli church, — to them the historical church 
of Maryland. 

St. Thomas' has been recently enlarged by the addi- 
tion of a chancel lighted by three beautiful memorial 
windows, and a transept in which is plnced a fine organ. 
On the wall of the south transept is a haiulsome brass 
tablet to the memory of four of its rectors who died in 
charge of the parish. Tlie older part of the church, with 
its brick pavement and square pews, remains undisturbed. 



124 ^t)c <2^ltJ )5nch Clmrcljcs; of ^ar\)lanD. 

After Braddock's defeat, in 1755, these pews presented a 
formidable aspect on Sundays, wlien every man carried a 
gun, to be prepared for a possible attack from Indians. 
We can imagine tlie home scene on Saturday night, when 
the entire household was interested in the preparation 
of arms and ammunition ; for while the men were bur- 
nishino- their guns, the women and children looked on 
with feelings of fear mingled with admiration. 

In those days, there seem to have been more adult 
unmarried sons living at home than at the present time ; 
whether this was because lovers were faint-hearted, or 
because maidens were hard to bring to terms, the fact 
remains that bachelors abounded. Between the years 
1755 and 1763 there were, in the parish of St. Thomas 
alone, thirty-nine bachelors recorded as such ; for they, 
as well as light wines and billiard tables, were taxed to 
defray the expenses of the war with the French, and 
many paid this tax during the entire period of the 
enactment. 

The graveyard of St. Thomas' has its share of amus- 
ing epitaphs, some of which are extremely difficult to 
decipher by reason of the wearing away of the stone. 
For the benefit of those who are interested in such 
matters we give a few examples : — 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

CECIL GIST, 

DAUGHTER OF CHARLES & PRUDENCE CARNAN OF LONDON, 

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE 

THE 1ST PAY OF JULY 1770 

AGED 28. 



^t. ^Ijomas' CljurcljvarD. J25 

Friendly stranger, stop gaze on this silent tomb 

The end of nature in the prime of youthful bloom 

Lost from the soft endearing ties of Life 

And tender name of daughter, sister, mother, wife 

Ye blooming fair, in her your fading charms survey 

She was whate'er your tender hearts can say 

More than exceeds y^ muses noblest j)oint of thought 

Or Pope or Milton's verses ever tauglit 

Farewell, lamented shade, I can proceed no more 

Too fast thy memory prompts the tear to flow 

Such was ye will of fate, nor must we murmur at y*^ rod 

Nor allwise dispensations of our God. 

Here in hope we trust & here our sorrows rest: 

The good & virtuous dead are ever blest. 

Another epitaph contains tlie following words of 

admonition : — 

Young & old as you pass by, 
As you are so once was I, 
And as I am so you must be 
So prepare for death & Eternity. 

A third, which has caused much merriment at a poor 
sufferer's expense, runs thus : — 

Afflictions sore long time I bore, 

Physicians where in vain 

Till God did please 

& Death did cease 

To ease me of my pain. 

And a fourth tells us that a descendant of the Rev. 
Thomas Cmdock, a youth who died in the twentieth 

year of his age, 

The paths of virtue 
And of Science trod. 
Resigned his soul 
To the Almighty God. 



126 



ti)t OI^ID y^xick Cl)urcl)C0 of ^ar^lano. 



Outside the Wtills of tlie old " God's acre," and in a 
corner of the church property which has been added to 
from time to time, there is a patch of Scotch broom. 
This Avas phmted during the rectorship of the Rev. 
Charles C. Austin, who died in 1849. It not only serves 
the purpose for which it was planted, namely, to prevent 
the red clay in that spot from washing into unsightly 




Silver belonging to St. Thomas', Garrison Forest. 



gulhes every time there is a heavy rain, but it has 
a very pretty bloom, and is precious to the botanist. 
Farmers, indeed, look upon it as an intruder, but as 
yet it is confined to this one corner, wliere it can do 
no harm to the crop of dead men's bones sown amidst 
its verdure. 



^ Hist of (Original panslKs;. 



127 



St. Thoiiiiis' possesses a handsome silver service datiii"- 
from the year 1773, when it was purchased by order of 
the Vestry. 



There are other old brick churches on the western 
shore of the Chesapeake, and doubtless much might be 
written about them also ; but the distinctive features of 
Maryland life in the past have been already treated in 
the preceding pages, and so with a list of the original 
parishes and of their oftshoots up to the time of the 
Revolution, we will bid adieu for the present to the 
Old Brick Churches of Maryland. 



William & Mary, 

Trinity Church, 
Poplar Hill Church, 

King & Queen, 

Christ Church, *- 
All Saints' Chapel, 

St. Andrew's, 



[> St. Mary's Co. 



o^ T^ 1, /- West oi Patuxent^ 
St. Pauls, „ . 
. ,, „ .^, < River, later ni St 
All Faith, ) 

V Mary's Co., 



Christ Church, 

Middleham Chapel, 
All Saints', 



} Calvert Co. 



William & Mary, 

Port Tobacco, 

Durham, r Later in )- Charles Co. 

Piscataway or <^ Prince 

St. John's, I George's Co., J 



/ 



128 t\)t O^lD iBricfe Cl)urct)csi of ^ar^ilantj* 

St. Margaret's Westminster, 

or Broadneck, 
St. Anne's, or Middleneck, } Anne Arundel Co. 
All Hallows', or South River, 
St. James', or Herring Creek, 

St. George's, or Spesutia, ^ 

St. John's, or Gunpowder, )■ 
St. Paul's, or Patapsco, J 



Prince George's County was erected from portions of 
Charles and Calvert Counties in 1695, when Piscataway, 
or St. John's Parish, Charles Count3^,and most of St. 
Paul's Parish, Calvert County, were incorporated with 
the new county. 

By fresh subdivisions of Prince George's, Anne Arun- 
del, and Baltimore Counties, Frederic and Montgomery 
were erected, and a creation of new parishes ensued. 
These are : — 

Queen Anne's, 1704 Prince George's Co. 

Later a part of Montgom- 



Prince George's, 1726 ..... „ 

ery Co 

Queen Caroline, 1728 .... Later a part of Howard Co. 

St. Thomas', 1742-43 .... Baltimore Co. 

All Saints', 1742 Frederic Co. 

Trinity, 1744 Charles Co. 

St. James', 1770 Baltimore Co. 

„, , Later St. Peter's, Mont- , -^^ ., . ^ 
Eden \ ^„„r. J Frederic Co. 

jomery, 1770 . . . 



tt)c Hoch Crrch Ct)urcl> 129 

After the Revolution, Prince George's Parisli was 
subdivided ; and one of the oldest cliurclies now stand- 
ing in the District of Columbia is the Rock Creek 
Church, once belonging to Prince George's Parish, but 
made the parish church of Rock Creek in 1811. 



H 111 



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